IliiillliippppiMIHP 

III  i"ii"i" 


CHILD  AND 
HIS  SCHOOL 


mmmmmmmmmmmmummmmmmmmg 


eiKraUDE  HARTMAN 


'^ 


-     i 


t 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/childhisschoolinOOhartrich 


THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 


"/  believe  that  education  is  the  fundamental  method  of 
social  progress  and  reform.  .  .  , 

"By  law  and  punishment,  hy  social  agitation  and  discus- 
sion, society  can  regulate  and  form  itself  in  a  more  or  less 
haphazard  or  chance  way.  But  through  education  society 
can  formulate  its  own  purposes,  can  organize  its  own  means 
and  resources,  and  thus  shape  itself  with  definiteness 
and  economy  in  the  direction  in  which  it  wishes  to  move  J  ^ 
John  Dewey,  "My  Pedagogic  Creed." 

"  Sociology  demands  of  educators  .  .  .  that  they  shall  not  rate 
themselves  as  leaders  of  children,  hut  as  makers  of  society. 
Sociology  knows  no  means  for  the  amelioration  or  reform  of 
society  mxyre  radical  than  those  of  which  teachers  hold  the 
leverage.  The  teacher  who  realizes  his  social  function  will 
not  he  satisfied  with  passing  children  to  the  next  grade. 
He  will  read  his  success  only  in  the  record  of  men  and  women 
who  go  from  the  school  eager  to  explore  wider  and  deeper  these 
social  relations,  and  zealous  to  do  their  part  in  making  a 
better  future.  We  are  the  dupes  of  faulty  analysis  if  we 
imaa^ne  that  schools  can  do  much  to  promote  social  progress 
until  they  are  motived  hy  this  insight  and  this  temper." 
Albion    Small,    "The    Demands    of    Sociology    upon 

Pedagogy." 


THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

An  Interpretation  of  Elementary 
Education  as  a  Social  Process 


BY 

GERTRUDE  HARTMAN 

Formerly  Director  of  the  Merion  Country  Day  ScHoot 
Merion,  Pennsylvania 


*      a      t 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 

681  Fifth  Avenue 


Copyright,  1922 
By  E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 


A.U  righta  rettrvid 


Printtd  in  tht  Unittd  States  of  America 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  with  sincere  appre- 
ciation the  courtesy  of  the  following  publishers  who  have 
granted  special  permission  for  the  incorporation  in  this 
study  of  the  numerous  extracts  from  publications  for  which 
they  hold  copyright. 

To  the  American  Book  Company  for  the  quotation  cited 
from  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Society  by  Albion  W. 
Small  and  George  E.  Vincent. 

To  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  for  the  quotations  cited 
from  Beginnings  of  Art  by  E.  Grosse. 

To  the  University  of  Chicago  Press  for  the  quotations 
cited  from  The  School  and  Society,  The  Child  and  the  Cur- 
riculum by  John  Dewey,  from  The  Place  of  Industries  in 
Elementary  Education  by  Katharine  E.  Dopp  and  from 
The  Scientific  Method  in  Education  by  Ella  Flagg  Young. 

To  the  Columbia  University  Press  for  the  quotations 
cited  from  The  Economic  Interpretation,  of  History  by 
Edwin  R.  A.  Seligman. 

To  Messrs.  E.  P.  Button  &  Co.,  for  the  quotations  cited 
from  The  Creative  Impulse  in  Industry  by  Helen  Marot. 

To  Messrs.  A.  Flanagan  Company  for  the  quotations 
cited  from  My  Pedagogic  Creed  by  John  Dewey  and  from 
The  Demands  of  Sociology  upon  Pedagogy  by  Albion  W. 
Small. 

To  the  editor  of  the  Forum  for  the  quotations  cited  from 
The  Primary -Education  Fetich  by  John  Dewey. 

To  Messrs.  Ginn  &  Co.  for  the  quotation  cited  from 
Sociology  and  Social  Practice  by  Thomas  N.  Carver. 

To  Messrs.  Harper  &  Bros,  for  the  quotations  cited  from 
Festivals  and  Pla/ys  by  Percival  Chubb  and  his  Associates. 

To  Messrs.  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.  for  the  quotations  cited 
from  How  We  Think  by  John  Dewey. 


468545 


vi  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

To  Messrs.  Hery  Holt  &  Co.  for  the  quotations  cited  from 
The  Influences  of  Geographic  Environment  by  Ellen  C. 
Semple. 

To  Messrs.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.  for  the  quotations  cited 
from  the  Riverside  Educational  Monographs,  Interest  and 
Effort  in  Education  and  Moral  Princples  in  Education  by 
John  Dewey  and  The  Meaning  of  Infancy  by  John  Fiske. 

To  the  Macmillan  Company  for  the  quotations  cited  from 
The  Mind  of  Primitive  Man  by  Franz  Boas,  from  The 
American  Commonwealth  by  Viscount  James  Bryce,  from 
Democracy  and  Education  by  John  Dewey,  from  the  Cyclo- 
pcedia  of  Education,  Paul  Monroe,  editor,  and  from  The 
New  History  by  J.  Harvey  Robinson. 

To  the  Public  School  Publishing  Co.  for  the  quotations 
cited  from  The  Fourth  Yearbook  of  the  National  Herbart 
Society,  The  Social  Function  of  United  States  History  by 
John  Bach  McMaster  and  The  Social  Function  of  Geog- 
raphy by  Spencer  Trotter. 

To  the  W.  B.  Saunders  Company  for  the  quotation  cited 
from  Introduction  to  Neurology  by  C.  Judson  Herrick. 

To  the  Yale  University  Press  for  the  quotation  cited 
from  Human  Nature  and  its  Remaking  by  "William  E. 
Hocking. 

Also  to  the  Chicago  Normal  College  Press,  Publishers  of 
the  Educational  Bi-monthly;  to  the  George  A.  Doran  Com- 
pany, Publishers  of  the  Educational  Review;  to  William 
Rice,  Publisher  of  the  London  Journal  of  Education  and 
School  World,  and  to  the  editors  of  the  Dial,  the  Kinder- 
garten Primary  Magazine,  the  New  Repuhlic  and  School 
and  Society  for  quotations  cited  from  their  several  period- 
icals. 

Also  to  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Washington,  the 
National  Education  Association,  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion, and  the  Wistar  Institute  of  Anatomy  and  Biology, 
for  quotations  cited  from  their  publications. 


FOREWORD 

From  among  the  many  contributions  that  have  enriched 
our  professional  literature  during  recent  years,  what  se- 
lection shall  be  made  by  the  teacher  who  seeks  to  translate 
the  more  modern  philosophy  of  education  into  terms  of 
daily  school  procedure  and  curriculum?  What  available 
sources  adequately  present  the  scientific  background  of  that 
philosophy?  Where  shall  we  find  interpretations  of  the 
scientific  problems  involved?  What  aids  can  the  school 
library  provide  both  for  the  teacher's  use  and  for  the  chil- 
dren's reading? 

Miss  Hartman  has  answered  these  questions  by  combin- 
ing a  selection  of  library  sources  with  an  outline  of  the 
principles  they  illustrate,  and  a  discussion  of  resulting  im- 
plications for  the  school  curriculum. 

We  believe  her  study  will  be  welcomed  by  teachers  as 
a  resume  of  exceptional  value,  discussing,  as  it  does  within 
a  single  volume,  materials  widely  distributed  through  the 
pages  of  books  and  periodicals,  many  of  them  not  easily 
available  outside  of  special  libraries.  To  the  student  and 
general  reader  we  recommend  it  as  presenting  an  able 
introduction  to  those  precious  conceptions  of  childhood 
and  youth  by  which  the  word  education  is  re-interpreted 
for  those  who  hold  it. 

Bureau  of  Educational  Experiments. 

New  York,  November,  1921. 


vSi 


PREFACE 

This  study  was  originally  undertaken  as  a  bibliography 
in  response  to  a  request  made  of  the  Bureau  of  Educational 
Experiments  by  a  group  of  teachers  representing  several 
schools,  all  of  whom  are  conducting  experimental  work  in 
curriculum-making.  In  the  course  of  the  undertaking,  it 
soon  became  evident  that  a  bibliography  to  be  of  funda- 
mental educational  value  must  be  governed  by  clearly  de- 
fined principles  of  selection.  The  theory  of  the  book  is  an 
attempt  to  organize  in  terms  of  the  best  authenticated 
knowledge,  after  careful  study  of  a  wide  range  of  author- 
itative sources,  a  working  hypothesis  for  experimental  pro- 
cedure. Since  a  pedagogy  of  any  scientific  pretensions 
presupposes  a  basis  of  modern  biology,  psychology,  and 
sociology,  of  which  it  is  a  derivative  science,  a  background 
of  the  points  of  view  in  those  sciences,  which  have  signi- 
ficance for  education,  is  given  in  support  of  the  educational 
philosophy  advocated.  Whenever  significant  points  of  view 
have  lent  themselves  to  direct  quotation,  the  quotation  has 
been  incorporated  with  the  text,  since  it  conveys  the  idea 
in  a  far  more  vivid  way  than  any  digest  could  give. 

The  predominance  of  references  and  quotations  from  the 
works  of  Dr.  John  Dewey  is  significant  as  indicating  Dr. 
Dewey's  profound  service  to  the  cause  of  modern  educa- 
tion, in  translating  the  findings  of  modern  science  and  phi- 
losophy into  their  educational  equivalents.  The  deep  ob- 
ligation of  the  writer  to  the  work  of  Dr.  Dewey  in  this 
instance  only  reflects  the  indebtedness  of  an  ever-growing 
body  of  workers  in  the  educational  field. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  record  here  my  indebtedness  to 
the  Bureau  of  Educational  Experiments,  who  have  made  it 
possible  for  me  to  undertake  the  study. 

Gertrude  Hartman. 
New  York,  November,  1921. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction.    The  Present  Educational  Situation 1 

PART  I.    The  Scientific  Basis  op  Education 9 

The  Biological  Basis 9 

The  Evolution  op  the  Regulatory  System 12 

The  Psychological  Basis , 14 

The  Significance  of  Childhood 19 

The  Social  Basis 23 

The  Evolution  op  Occupations 25 

The  Influence  of  Environment  upon  the  Development 

OP  Social  Life 30 

The  Relation  of  Occupations  to  the  Development  of 

Social  Life 32 

The  Relation  of  Art  and  Science  to  Occupations 34 

The  Evolution  of  the  Scientific  Method  of  Thinking.  ,  39 

The  Evolution  of  Knowledge 41 

The  Evolution  of  Organs  of  Social  Regulation 45 

The  Present  Social  Situation 48 

PART  II.    The  Educative  Process 55 

The  Function  of  Education 55 

The  Place  of  Activity  in  Education ~  60 

The  Organization  of  Activities 67 

~    Activity  as  Play 68 

Dramatic  Activities 73 

Investigation  and  Experimentation 74 

Art  Activities 77 

Rhythmic  and  Musical  Activities 85 

The  School  Festival 87 

Linguistic  Activities 91 

Composition 99 

Literature 101 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Activity  as  Work 107 

Science 112 

The  Tool  Subjects 118 

Reading 122 

Writing 126 

Spelling 127 

Arithmetic 131 

The  Organization  of  Subject-matter 134 

The  Study  of  Social  Life 137 

Community  Study 139 

Our  National  Life 150 

The  Study  of  Other  Nations 155 

Social  Philosophy 161 

Moral  Education 163 

The  Function  of  the  Various  Subjects  of  Study  in 

Expanding  Experience 167 

The  Function  of  the  Teacher 177 

Measuring  Progress 182 

Equipment  and  Arrangements 185 

POSTSCRIPT.    A  Call  to  Teachers 189 

PART  III.    Bibliography  of  Sources  for  Subject-matter.  .  191 

Community  Study 192 

Food 192 

Clothing 196 

Shelter 199 

Transportation 204 

Communication 206 

Conservation  of  Wealth 207 

Education 208 

Recreation 208 

Religion 209 

Protection 209 

Government 210 

FaiMrnvE  Life 210 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

OuB  National  Life 212 

General 212 

Government 213 

History 214 

The  Study  op  Other  Nations 221 

General 221 

North  America .' 222 

South  America 226 

Europe 227 

Asia 241 

Africa 246 

Australia 247 


THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 


THE  CHILD   AND   HIS  SCHOOL 


INTRODUCTION 

THE   PRESENT   EDUCATIONAL   SITUATION 

Educationally  speaking  we  seem  to  be  *' between  two 
worlds,  one  dead,  the  other  powerless  to  be  born. '  *  There 
are  numerous  signs  indicating  that  the  old  educational 
order  is  passing;  there  are  vital  tendencies  everywhere 
showing  the  newer  trend  of  the  times ;  but  as  yet  there  is 
no  new  education  in  definite  existence ;  even  our  most  pro- 
gressive schools  can  be  looked  upon  only  as  a  transition 
and  a  compromise.  Current  educational  practice  is  still 
dominated  by  psychological  assumptions  which  the  new 
developments  of  psychology  have  shown  to  be  untenable, 
and  by  sociological  implications  which  are  survivals  from 
a  social  situation  no  longer  existing. 

The  gap  between  school  practice  and  the  modern  point 
of  view  in  psychology  is  painfully  apparent.  The  old 
psychology  looked  upon  mind  and  the  subject  matter  of 
thought  as  two  distinct  entities  more  or  less  antagonistic 
to  each  other,  which  it  was  the  business  of  education  to 
reconcile.  Knowledge  was  abstracted  from  the  situation 
which  made  it  useful  and  looked  upon  as  an  end  in  itself. 
The  teaching  of  subjects,  not  in  their  relation  to  experi- 
ence, but  according  to  a  fixed  order  and  classification,  the 
following  of  logical  methods  of  instruction,  the  belief  in 
the  doctrine  of  formal  discipline — all  find  their  explana- 
tion in  this  outworn  psychological  creed.  ^*The  supposed 
externality  of  subject-matter  is  but  the  counterpart  phase 
of  the  alleged  internal  isolation  of  mind.    If  mind  means 


2        ' ' 5?Ei]Ei  "icaiLb  *  mi)'-^  His  .school 

certain  powers  or  faculties  existing  in  themselves  and 
needing  only  to  be  exercised  hy  and  upon  presented  subject- 
matter,  the  presented  subject-matter  must  mean  something 
complete  in  its  ready-made  and  fixed  separateness.  Objects, 
facts,  truths  of  geography,  history,  and  science  not  being 
conceived  as  means  and  ends  for  the  intelligent  develop- 
ment of  experience,  are  thought  of  just  as  stuff  to  be 
learned.  Reading,  writing,  figuring  are  mere  external 
forms  of  skill  to  be  mastered.  Even  the  arts — drawing,  sing- 
ing— are  thought  of  as  meaning  so  many  ready-made  things, 
pictures,  songs,  that  are  to  be  externally  produced  and 
reproduced.  .  .  .  Some  means  must  be  found  to  overcome 
the  separation  of  mind  and  subject-matter;  problems  of 
methods  in  teaching  are  reduced  to  various  ways  of  over- 
coming a  gap  which  exists  only  because  a  radically  wrong 
method  had  already  been  entered  upon.''  (John  Dewey, 
Interest  and  Effort  in  Education,  p.  94.*) 

*' Philosophers  have  debated  concerning  the  nature  and 
method  of  knowledge.  It  is  hardly  cynical  to  say  that  posi- 
tiveness  of  assertion  on  those  points  has  been  in  proportion 
to  the  lack  of  any  assured  method  of  knowing  in  actual 
operation.  The  whole  idea  and  scope  of  knowledge-getting 
in  education  has  reflected  the  absence  of  such  a  method,  so 
that  learning  has  meant,  upon  the  whole,  piling  up,  wor- 
shiping, and  holding  fast  to  what  is  handed  down  from  the 
past  with  the  title  of  knowledge.  But  the  actual  practice 
of  knowing  has  finally  reached  a  point  where  learning 
means  discovery,  not  memorizing  traditions;  where  knowl- 
edge is  actively  constructed,  not  passively  absorbed;  and 
where  men's  beliefs  must  be  openly  recognized  to  be  experi- 
mental in  nature,  involving  hypothesis  and  testing  through 
being  set  at  work.  Upon  the  side  of  subject-matter,  the 
ideas  of  energy,  process,  growth,  and  evolutionary  change 
have  become  supreme  at  the  expense  of  the  older  notions 
of  permanent  substance,  rigid  fixity,  and  uniformity.  The 
basic  conceptions  which  form  men's  standards  of  inter- 
pretation and  valuation  have  thus  undergone  radical  altera- 

*By  permission  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.  Copyright  1913  by  John 
Dewey. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

tion.'*  (John  Dewey,  PJiilosophy  of  Education,  Cyelo- 
pasdia  of  Education,  pp.  702-703.*)  According  to  the  old 
point  of  view  mental  structure  tended  to  fall  apart  into 
various  faculties  working  more  or  less  independently;  the 
new  point  of  view  is  an  analysis  of  the  processes  of  adaptive 
behavior,  showing  how  they  came  into  existence  as  the  result 
of  certain  needs  of  life,  and  how  they  work  together  to 
maintain  human  beings  to  meet  the  constantly  changing 
conditions  of  their  environment. 

The  false  psychological  basis  of  education  is  paralleled 
by  a  lack  of  realization  of  its  social  requirements.  Strong 
social  forces  have  for  a  long  time  been  silently  at  work,  and 
as  a  result  our  social  life  has  undergone  a  complete  and 
radical  transformation.  In  education,  on  the  other  hand, 
outworn  points  of  view  have  been  handed  on  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  and  thus  perpetuated,  we  have  become 
habituated  to  traditional  modes  of  thinking — in  a  word, 
education  has  become  institutionalized.  The  result  is  that 
it  now  bears  no  clear  and  direct  relation  to  the  needs  and 
opportunities  of  contemporary  life.  **If  we  go  back  a  few 
centuries,  we  find  a  practical  monopoly  of  learning.  The 
term  possession  of  learning  is,  indeed  a  happy  one.  Learn- 
ing was  a  class  matter.  This  was  a  necessary  result  of 
social  conditions.  There  was  not  in  existence  any  means  by 
which  the  multitude  could  possibly  have  access  to  intel- 
lectual resources.  These  were  stored  up  and  hidden  away 
in  manuscripts.  Of  these,  there  were  at  best  only  a  few, 
and  it  required  a  long  and  toilsome  preparation  to  be  able 
to  do  anything  with  them.  A  high-priesthood  of  learning 
which  guarded  the  treasury  of  truth  and  which  doled  it  out 
to  the  masses  under  severe  restrictions,  was  the  inevitable 
expression  of  these  conditions.  But,  as  a  direct  result  of  the 
industrial  revolution  .  .  .  this  has  been  changed.  Printing 
was  invented ;  it  was  made  commercial  .  .  .  The  result  has 
been  an  intellectual  revolution.  Learning  has  been  put  into 
circulation.  While  there  still  is,  and  probably  always  will 
be,  a  particular  class  having  the  special  business  of  inquiry 
in  hand,  a  distinctively  learned  class  is  henceforth  out  of 

*By  permission  The  Macmillan  Co.     Copyright  1911. 


4  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

the  question.  It  is  an  anachronism.  .  .  .  Our  school 
methods,  and  to  a  very  considerable  extent  our  curriculum, 
are  inherited  from  the  period  when  learning  and  command 
of  certain  symbols,  affording  as  they  did,  the  only  access  to 
learning,  were  all-important.  The  ideals  of  this  period  are 
still  largely  in  control,  even  where  the  outward  methods  and 
studies  have  been  changed  .  .  .  our  present  education 
...  is  highly  specialized,  one-sided  and  narrow.  It  is 
an  education  dominated  almost  entirely  by  the  mediaeval 
conception  of  learning.  It  is  something  which  appeals  for 
the  most  part  simply  to  the  intellectual  aspect  of  our 
natures,  our  desire  to  learn,  to  accumulate  information,  and 
to  get  control  of  the  symbols  of  learning;  not  to  our  im- 
pulses and  tendencies  to  make,  to  do,  to  create,  to  produce, 
whether  in  the  form  of  utility  or  art.  .  .  . 

*' While  training  for  the  profession  of  learning  is 
regarded  as  the  type  of  culture,  or  a  liberal  education,  the 
training  of  a  mechanic,  a  musician,  a  lawyer,  a  doctor,  a 
farmer,  a  merchant,  or  a  railroad  manager  is  regarded  as 
purely  technical  and  professional.  The  result  is  that  which 
we  see  about  us  everywhere — ^the  division  into  *  cultured* 
people  and 'workers*  .  .  .  ."  John  Dewey ^  The  School  and 
Society,  pp.  22-25.*)  Such  an  educational  situation  tends 
to  accentuate  all  the  undemocratic  tendencies  of  our  time 
by  strengthening  class  distinctions.  Education  under  these 
circumstances  tends  to  fall  apart  into  two  types  seeking 
specialized  aims.  The  education  of  the  leisure  class  takes 
on  more  or  less  the  character  of  an  accomplishment;  it  is 
removed  from  the  realities  of  every-day  life  and  is  con- 
cerned with  an  unproductive  expenditure  of  time.  On  the 
other  hand  we  see  growing  up  a  narrow,  barren  conception 
of  technological  education,  dominated  by  the  demands  of 
industry  rather  than  by  educational  principles,  seeking  to 
habituate  workers  in  the  various  specialized  modes  of  skill 
necessary  for  the  efficient  performance  of  their  trades. 
Dissatisfaction  is  shown  by  the  mass  of  the  people  to  the 
making  of  a  type  of  education  a  badge  of  inferiority,  and 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1900  by 
the  University  of  Chicago.    Copyright  1900  and  1915  by  John  Dewey. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

they  therefore  make  every  effort  to  secure  the  leisure-class 
education  regardless  of  its  serviceability. 

The  pressing  demand  of  the  present  is  for  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  human  relationships  upon  a  saner  and  more  secure 
foundation.  It  constitutes  a  challenge  which  the  school 
cannot  evade.  If  democracy  is  to  be  anything  more  than 
a  mere  political  term,  there  must  be  a  new  educational 
theory  which  will  relate  education  directly  to  the  changed 
conditions  brought  about  by  the  industrial  revolution.  The 
social  aim  of  education  for  democracy  must  he  of  the  sort 
which  does  not  admit  the  implication  of  a  class  superiority. 
It  mil  he  vocational,  hut  it  will  aim  not  •at  a  living  hut  a 
living  together;  it  will  he  Uheralf  hecause  it  makes  men 
free.  ^*We  need  to  know  the  difference  that  the  democratic 
ideal  makes  in  our  moral  aims  and  methods;  we  need  to 
come  to  consciousness  of  the  changed  conception  of  the 
nature  of  existence  that  its  spread  imports.  We  must 
reckon  intelligently  with  the  new  and  gigantic  industrial 
forces  that  have  come  into  being,  securing  by  education  a 
disposition  to  subordinate  them  to  general  welfare  and  to 
equality  of  opportunity  so  that  they  may  not  plunge  us  into 
class  hatreds,  intellectual  deadness,  and  artistic  vulgarity. 
Unless  our  science  is  to  become  as  specialized  and  isolated 
a  thing  as  was  ever  any  scholastic  scheme  whose  elaborate 
futility  we  ridicule,  we  must  make  the  experimental  atti- 
tude the  pervasive  ideal  of  all  our  intellectual  undertakings, 
and  learn  to  think  habitually  in  terms  of  dynamic  processes 
and  genetic  evolution.  Clearness  upon  the  issues,  problems, 
and  aims  which  our  own  period  has  brought  to  the  fore- 
ground is  a  necessity  for  free  and  deliberate  participation 
in  the  tasks  that  present-day  education  has  to  perform.'' 
(John  Dewey,  Philosophy  of  Education,  Cyclopaedia  of 
Education,  p.  703.*) 

What  is  needed  is  a  thorough  overhauling  of  our  educa- 
tional beliefs,  the  rejection  of  everything  that  is  outworn, 
and  the  formulation  of  a  philosophy  of  curriculum  organ- 
ization consistent  with  the  findings  of  modern  biology, 
psychology  and  sociology,  upon  which  alone  can  a  sound 

*By  permission  The  Macmillan  Co.    Copyright  1911. 


6  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

philosophy  of  education  be  built.  Unless  we  have  such  an 
organized  philosophy  we  are  without  a  standard  by  which 
to  measure  our  day  to  day  accomplishment,  or  to  judge  of 
the  value  of  contemplated  changes  in  procedure.  Progress 
under  any  other  conditions  is  due  to  a  happy  combination 
of  external  circumstances  rather  than  to  the  application  of 
scientific  principles. 

READING 

Angell,  J.  R. — TJie  Province  of  Functional  Psychology, 

Psychological  Review,  March,  1907. 
CooLEY,  C.  H. — A  Primary  Culture  for  Democracy,  Papers 
and  Proceedings,  American  Sociological  Society,  1918. 
Dewey,  John — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 
Chap,     XIX.  Labor  and  Leisure. 
Chap.       XX.  Intellectual  and  Practical  Studies. 
Chap.      XXL  Physical  and  Social  Studies. 
Chap.  XXIII.  Vocational  Aspects  of  Education. 
Chap.  XXIV.  Philosophy  of  Education. 
Dewey,  John — The  Educational  Situation,  University  of 

Chicago  Press. 
Dewey,  John — The   Relation   of   Theory   to   Practice   in 
Education,  National  Society  for  Scientific  Study  of 
Education,  Year  Book,  1904. 
Dewey,  John — Schools  of  To-morrow,  Dutton. 

Chap.  IX.  Industry   and   Educational   Readjust- 
ment. 
Chap.  XL  Democracy  and  Education. 
Dewey,  John — The    School   and   Society,   University   of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.     I.  The  School  and  Social  Progress. 
Chap.  IV.  The   Psychology  of   Elementary   Edu- 
cation. 
Dewey,  John — American  Education   and   Culture,   New 

Republic,  July  1,  1916. 
Yeblen,  T. — The  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class,  Huebsch. 

Chap.  XIV.  The  Higher  Learning  as  an  Expres- 
sion of  the  Pecuniary  Culture. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

Watson,  J.  B.— Psychology  as  a  Behaviorist  Views  It, 

Psychological  Review,  March,  1913. 
WooDWORTH,  R.  S. — Dynamic  Psychology,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity Press. 

Chap.    I.  The  Modem  Movement  in  Psychology. 
Chap.  XL  The  Problems  and  Methods  of  Psychol- 
ogy* 


PART   I 

THE   SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION 

The  human  species  appears  to  possess  characteristics  so 
essentially  different  from  those  of  every  other  animal 
species  that  it  is  not  surprising  if  for  centuries  man 
regarded  himself  as  a  separate  and  distinct  creation.  In- 
deed, although  the  work  of  Darwin  established  beyond 
doubt  our  biological  connection  with  the  rest  of  the  animate 
world,  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  the  evolutionary 
conception  of  life  has  materially  influenced  psychological 
and  sociological  thought.  The  development  of  a  functional 
psychology,  of  a  dynamic  sociology,  and  the  pragmatic 
point  of  view  in  philosophy,  however,  are  all  making 
increasingly  clear  how  completely  our  mental,  our  social, 
and  our  moral  life  are  the  result  of  that  age-long  experience 
which  stretches  back  into  the  dim  past  when  the  first  bit  of 
protoplasm  stirred  in  the  primordial  ooze  and  life  began 
upon  the  earth.  Since  in  the  child,  with  whom  the  school 
has  to  deal,  we  have  the  latest  product  of  that  race  experi- 
ence, it  is  necessary  before  attempting  to  formulate  any 
mode  of  school  procedure,  to  trace  in  a  general  way  the 
workings  of  those  great  natural  forces  which  have  combined 
to  make  him  what  he  is.  What  heritage  have  those  forces 
bestowed  upon  him?  What  limitations  do  they  impose 
upon  education  ?  What  resources  do  they  offer  ?  These  are 
the  questions  which  education  asks  of  evolution. 

The  Biological  Basis 

Wherever  conditions  on  the  earth  are  favorable,  life 
exists,  and  the  whole  great  concourse  of  living  things,  high 
as  well  as  low,  are  forced  to  engage  in  a  never-ending 

9 


10  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

struggle  to  maintain  their  existence.  However  rudimentary 
in  structure  an  organism  may  be,  it  must  perform  all  the 
functions  necessary  to  sustain  life  or  else  be  extinguished. 
As  nourishment  is  fundamental  to  the  continuance  of  life, 
all  organisms  perform  ceaseless  and  untiring  movements  in 
search  of  food.  The  lower  organisms  usually  move  about 
at  random,  making  trial  of  all  sorts  of  conditions,  until 
possibly  by  chance  collision  they  meet  success  in  their  quest. 
Jennings  in  his  Behavior  of  the  Lower  Organisms  describes 
bacteria  as  swimming  about  in  a  direction  determined  by 
the  position  of  the  body  axis  until  the  movement  subjects 
them  to  unfavorable  change;  whereupon  they  reverse  and 
swim  in  some  other  direction  with  rapid  movements  and 
much  sensitiveness  to  unfavorable  influences.  This  soon 
results  in  their  finding  and  remaining  in  the  favorable 
regions.  We  see,  then,  that  a  living  being  is  not  an  inde- 
pendent thing  existing  in  isolated  passivity;  the  very  con- 
ditions of  its  life  force  it  into  active  relationship  with  the 
world  of  materials  and  forces  upon  which  it  depends  for  its 
sustenance.  Life  may  be  regarded  as  the  sum  total  of  the 
functions  of  an  organism  in  their  reciprocal  relations,  as  the 
outcome  of  its  relationship  with  the  environment.  Every 
organism  reacts  in  ways  that  are  advantageous  to  the 
functioning  of  its  life  processes.  **If  it  gets  into  hot  water, 
it  takes  measures  to  get  out  again,  and  the  same  is  true  if  it 
gets  into  excessively  cold  water.  If  it  encounters  an 
injurious  chemical  substance,  it  at  once  changes  its  behavior 
and  escapes.  If  it  lacks  materials  for  its  metabolic  processes, 
it  sets  in  operation  movements  which  secure  such  material, 
suspending  these  movements  when  the  lack  is  fully  sup- 
plied. If  it  lacks  oxygen  for  its  respiration  it  moves  to  a 
region  where  oxygen  is  found.  If  injured,  it  flees  to  safer 
regions.  *'  (H.  S.  Jennings,  The  Method  of  Regulation  in 
Behavior  and  in  Other  Fields.  Journal  of  Experimental 
Zoology,  November,  1905.)  The  continued  existence  of  an 
organism  depends  upon  harmony  being  preserved  between 
changes  in  the  environment  and  changes  within  the  organ- 
ism. Anything  injurious  to  the  organism  produces  changes 
in  behavior  until  a  favorable  condition  is  reached.    In  con- 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      11 

ditions  that  are  entirely  favorable  there  is  no  need  for  a 
change  in  behavior.  A  change  in  behavior  takes  place  only 
when  there  is  some  interference  with  the  life  process. 

Out  of  this  situation  has  developed  that  essential  charac- 
teristic of  all  living  beings — their  power  of  adaptability. 
All  living  things  in  order  to  maintain  themselves,  are 
forced  into  processes  of  adaptive  behavior,  and  variations 
within  an  organism  arise  in  accordance  with  this  require- 
ment. The  variety  and  complexity  of  environmental  con- 
ditions require  subtle  modifications  within  the  organism  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  the  diverse  circumstances  to  which 
it  is  subjected.  Organisms  are  able  to  make  adaptive 
changes  in  behavior  because  of  that  characteristic  common 
to  all  protoplasm  known  as  plasticity.  Lower  forms  of  life 
have  only  a  limited  ability  to  adjust  themselves  to  their 
surroundings.  If  changes  in  the  environment  are  too  sud- 
den or  too  great,  the  organism  dies.  The  essential  condi- 
tions of  life  therefore  put  a  premium  upon  the  better  and 
better  adaptation  of  the  organism  to  its  environment.  This 
necessity  for  a  more  adequate  adaptation  of  life  to  environ- 
ment has  given  rise  to  increasing  elaboration  of  structure 
in  the  scale  of  animal  life.  Organisms  that  vary  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  them  unfitted  to  carry  on  their  life  func- 
tions are  eliminated ;  those  which  improve  their  functioning 
through  improved  structure  survive  and  produce  others 
after  their  kind. 

The  struggle  of  an  organism  for  more  adequate  function- 
ing involves  an  effort  to  control  its  environment;  elabora- 
tion of  structure  contributes  to  increased  control  of  the 
environment  by  increasing  the  precision  of  movements ;  on 
the  other  hand  it  tends  to  restrict  the  form  of  movement  to 
certain  types.  An  organism  which  has  adopted  some  special 
type  of  behavior  becomes  unadapted  to  other  behavior.  It 
develops  structures  under  the  influence  of  its  adaptive 
behavior  that  make  it  difficult  for  it  to  react  in  other  than 
one  way.  After  a  time  it  loses  all  tendency  to  react  in  other 
ways  owing  to  the  structural  changes  it  has  undergone. 
Complete  specialization  of  structure  leads  to  a  condition  of 
stability  in  the  relationship  between  the  organism  and  its 


12  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

environment.  The  perfection  of  mechanism  is  unfavorable 
to  further  development.  Animals  become  committed  to  one 
form  of  life  and  in  so  doing  sacrifice  their  plasticity. 
Natural  selection,  therefore,  while  it  favors  variation  of 
structure,  also  favors  the  persistence  of  plasticity,  since 
plasticity  is  a  prerequisite  to  growth.  An  organism  to 
retain  its  plasticity  must  have  the  power  of  making 
over  its  environment  in  accordance  with  its  own  needs. 
The  increasing  control  given  by  increasing  elaboration 
of  structure  enables  organisms  to  deal  with  an  en- 
vironment which  grows  constantly  more  complex,  more 
varied  and  more  remote  in  time  and  space.  A  species  which 
can  adjust  itself  to  only  a  few  elements  of  its  environment 
is  less  efficient  than  one  which  has  diverse  relationships  and 
an  extensive  range  of  possible  adaptations.  The  world  of 
a  protozoan  is  a  drop  of  water;  it  can  move  but  a  short 
distance  and  distinguish  but  a  few  objects;  the  higher 
animals  range  over  a  wide  territory  and  become  acquainted 
with  a  great  variety  of  objects;  man  lives  in  a  world  which 
is  bounded  by  the  most  distant  star,  and  which  stretches 
back  in  time  to  ages  before  recorded  history. 

The  Evolution  of  the  Regulatory  System. — Regulation 
signifies  any  kind  of  reaction  of  the  organism  which  reestab- 
lishes the  normal  state  of  functioning.  The  securing  of 
an  effective  method  of  regulation  is  therefore  a  matter  of 
supreme  importance  to  life.  As  we  progress  up  the  scale 
of  life,  we  see  that  in  the  elaboration  of  structure  function 
develops  from  a  generalized  to  a  specialized  condition.  The 
one-celled  organism  responds  as  a  whole  to  stimulus. 
Gradually  in  the  differentiation  of  structure  we  see  that 
certain  cells  are  set  apart  for  receiving  stimuli,  and  others 
for  responding  to  them.  There  is  then  necessity  for  some 
sort  of  connection  between  these  two  sets  of  cells,  and  still 
other  cells  form  a  line  of  connection  to  transmit  the 
stimulus  from  the  receiving  cells  to  the  responding  cells. 
Such,  in  general,  is  the  mechanism  constituting  the  rudi- 
mentary nervous  system  of  lower  animals.  Once  estab- 
lished, such  a  system  dominates  the  organism  since  it  forms 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION       13 

an  apparatus  by  which  the  inner  processes  are  kept  in  har- 
mony and  the  whole  organism  the  better  equipped  to  make 
adaptive  movements.  From  this  simplest  form  of  mechan- 
ism has  been  gradually  evolved  the  elaborate  structure  of 
the  nervous  system  with  all  its  varied  and  highly  special- 
ized functions.  ''A  study  of  the  comparative  anatomy  of 
the  nervous  system  shows  that  its  form  is  always  correlated 
with  the  behavior  of  the  animal  possessing  it.  The  simplest 
form  of  nervous  system  consists  of  a  diffuse  network  of 
nerve-cells  and  connecting  fibres  distributed  among  the  other 
tissues  of  the  body.  Such  a  nervous  system  is  found  in 
some  jelly-fishes  and  in  parts  of  the  sympathetic  nervous 
system  of  higher  animals.  Animals  which  possess  this  dif- 
fuse type  of  nervous  system  can  perform  only  very  simple 
acts,  chiefly  total  movements  of  the  whole  body  or  general 
movements  of  large  parts  of  it,  with  relatively  small 
capacity  for  refined  activities  requiring  the  cooperation  of 
many  different  organs.  But  even  the  lowest  animals  which 
possess  nerves  show  a  tendency  for  the  nervous  net  to  be 
condensed  in  some  regions  for  the  general  control  of  the 
activities  of  the  different  parts  of  the  body.*'  (C.  J. 
Herrick,  Introduction  to  Neurology ^  pp.  28-29.) 

By  the  possession  of  a  highly  organized  nervous  system 
a  multitude  of  activities  may  be  made  to  work  together  in 
unity  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  organism.  In  the  lower 
animals  there  is  only  one  course  which  the  stimulus  can 
take;  as  the  neural  processes  become  more  complex,  the 
path  from  stimulus  to  response  is  increasingly  roundabout. 
If  the  stimulus  can  go  by  only  one  route  the  organism  can 
never  learn  to  discriminate  between  the  response  it  is  able 
to  make  and  some  other  possible  response.  A  highly  devel- 
oped adjusting  mechanism  enables  the  organism  to  select 
its  present  stimulus  with  reference  to  past  experience  and 
thus  provide  more  adequately  for  the  future. 

The  supreme  place  in  nature  attained  by  man  is  due  to 
the  progressive  evolution  of  the  nervous  system.  In  purely 
physical  respects  the  human  body  is  inferior  to  that  of  other 
animals.  It  is  not  through  superior  physique  but  through 
ability  to  direct  the  activities  of  the  body  that  man  excels 


14  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

in  the  struggle  for  existence.  This  infinitely  elaborated 
control  system  enables  the  human  organism  not  only  to 
respond  appropriately  to  stimuli,  but  to  order  its  behavior 
through  an  infinite  series  of  responses,  each  determined  by 
a  preceding  stimulus.  From  the  biological  point  of  view 
the  human  brain  is  the  highest  expression  of  an  organizing 
system  for  the  purpose  of  adaptation.  The  possession  of  a 
brain  constitutes  the  greatest  safeguard  for  success  in  the 
struggle  for  existence. 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — ^Articles  on  AcUvUy,  Adaptation^  Adjust- 
ment, Environment,  and  Organism.  Cyclopaedia  of 
Education.    Macmillan. 

Jennings,  H.  S. — The  Study  of  the  Behaviour  of  Lower 
Organisms.  Carnegie  Institution.  Pub.  No.  16.  The 
Method  of  Trial  and  Error  in  the  Behavior  of  Lower 
Organisms. 

Jennings,  H.  S. — ModiftahiUty  in  Behavior.  Journal  of 
Experimental  Zoology,  November,  1905. 

Jennings,  H.  S. — The  Method  of  Regulation  in  Behavior 
and  in  Other  Fields.  Journal  of  Experimental  Zool- 
ogy, November,  1905. 

Miller,  I.  E. — The  Psychology  of  Thinking.    Macmillan. 
Chaps.  I  and  II.  The  Biological  Point  of  View. 

Morgan,  C.  L. — Animal  Behaviour.    Arnold,  London. 
Chap.       I.  Organic  Behaviour. 
Chap.  VII.  The  Evolution  of  Animal  Behaviour. 

Parker,  G.  H. — The  Origin  and  Evolution  of  the  Nervous 
System.    Popular  Science  Monthly,  February,  1914. 

Smith,  G.  E. — The  Evolution  of  Man.  Nature,  September 
26,  1912,  or  Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
1912. 

The  Psychological  Basis 

The  life  process  is  essentially  a  unit.  To  consider  it  under 
two  categories,  the  biological  and  the  psychological,  is  to 
run  the  risk  of  suggesting  a  separation  where  none  exists. 


i 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      15 

The  physiological  and  the  psychical  are  merely  two  aspects 
of  the  same  thing  separated  here  only  for  convenience  in 
discussion. 

Just  how  the  conscious  processes  came  to  be,  remains  part 
of  the  mystery  of  the  origin  of  life  itself.  Whatever  their 
origin,  the  important  fact  is  that  they,  like  every  other 
characteristic  of  living  matter,  developed  out  of  the  struggle 
for  more  effective  functioning,  and  that  each  step  in  their 
elaboration  has  been  regulated  by  the  general  evolutionary 
process  of  more  complex  and  effective  forms  out  of  simpler 
and  more  general  forms.  From  the  evolutionary  point  of 
view  consciousness  is  a  superior  device  for  securing  adapta- 
tion ;  it  advances  life  more  quickly,  more  economically,  and 
more  effectively  than  unconscious  processes  could  do.  The 
value  of  consciousness  in  the  struggle  for  existence  is  self 
evident.  An  animal  which  reacted  in  a  certain  way  to  its 
environment  and  continued  doing  so,  no  matter  how  dis- 
astrous the  results,  would  run  the  risk  of  annihilation. 
Therefore,  any  interference  with  the  functioning  of  the 
life  processes  gives  rise  to  changes  in  behavior  in  even  the 
lowest  organisms.  This  change  in  behavior  is  at  first,  for 
the  most  part,  automatic,  and  highly  subject  to  chance 
occurrence.  Yet  in  the  organism's  choice  of  an  environ- 
ment which  furthers  its  life  processes,  and  in  indifference 
to,  or  rejection  of,  that  which  does  not,  we  have  the  essence 
of  consciousness. 

For  an  animal  to  be  subject  to  the  changes  in  its  environ- 
ment is  very  precarious,  and  it  is  to  its  interest  to  gain 
control  of  its  environment  and  thus  render  itself  more 
secure.  As  we  ascend  the  animal  scale,  therefore,  we  find 
that  instincts  are  not  rigid,  but  are  capable  of  being  modi- 
fied to  suit  varying  circumstances.  Inherited  modes  of 
action  are  modified  by  the  experience  of  the  organism.  Even 
the  lowest  organisms  do  not  always  react  in  the  same  way 
to  a  given  stimulus.  The  response  may  depend  upon  a  num- 
ber of  inner  states  or  changes.  As  an  animal  profits  by  its 
past  experience  in  adjusting  its  response  to  a  present 
stimulus,  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  it  has  undergone 
a  conscious  process,  that  its  past  experience  is  somehow 


16  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

brought  into  relation  with  its  present  situation  and  influ- 
ences behavior.  In  the  higher  animals  a  very  simple 
stimulus  may  give  rise  to  a  very  complex  response.  The 
higher  the  type  of  organism  the  greater  the  variety  of 
responses  which  may  be  called  forth,  and  the  greater  the 
power  of  inhibition,  the  balancing  of  one  possible  stimulus 
against  another,  and  the  choice  of  the  most  advantageous 
one.  We  see,  therefore,  as  we  ascend  the  animal  scale  a 
growing  tendency  toward  the  regulation  of  action  for  the 
achievement  of  more  and  more  clearly  realized  ends.  The 
more  an  animal  is  able  to  look  ahead  and,  on  the  basis  of 
past  experience,  to  manipulate  the  elements  of  its  environ- 
ment so  that  desired  results  are  brought  about,  the  more 
secure  it  is.  The  more  an  animal  is  able  to  predict  different 
futures  for  itself  and  to  choose  the  proper  course  of  action, 
the  greater  its  chance  of  survival.  The  only  way  that  an 
organism  can  control  its  future  is  by  modifying  its  present 
environment  through  its  responses.  Therefore,  wherever 
we  see  conscious  activity  at  work  we  find  attempts  being 
made  to  make  over  the  environment  for  the  more  efficient 
performance  of  life  functions.  As  we  pass  from  lower  to 
higher  forms  of  life  we  see  that  animals  participate  in 
shaping  the  course  of  their  actions,  and  that  inherited 
modes  of  reaction  are  more  and  more  modified  by  experi- 
ence.   All  of  this  means  the  growth  of  intelligence. 

Intelligence  once  having  been  established  as  a  factor  in 
evolution,  it  comes  to  assume  a  I'ole  of  ever  increasing  im- 
portance. Competition  between  the  intelligence  of  different 
animals  in  their  struggle  for  existence  gives  it  constant 
impetus.  The  animal  with  superior  mental  equipment  has 
an  immense  advantage  in  being  able  to  meet  a  situation  in 
more  than  one  way,  and  to  deal  with  new  situations  in  a 
complex  and  variable  environment.  As  soon  as  intelligence 
has  been  developed  so  that  a  slight  variation  in  it  is  more 
useful  than  a  variation  in  physical  structure,  such  variation 
will  be  selected,  and  physical  superiority  gives  way  to  the 
development  of  intelligence.  If  we  compare  the  highest 
animals  with  the  lowest,  we  can  see  the  tremendous  develop- 
ment of  effective  forms  of  behavior  due  to  the  development 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      17 

of  the  conscious  processes.  With  the  evolution  of  man, 
physiological  variation  has  ceased,  but  psychical  variation 
has  proceeded  rapidly. 

The  foregoing  discussion  of  animal  intelligence  has 
seemed  to  put  a  high  valuation  upon  the  development  of  the 
animal  mind.  However,  if  we  compare  the  highest  animals 
with  even  the  lowest  tribes  of  men,  we  see  the  great  gap 
which  marks  the  dividing  line  between  man  and  the  brute 
creation.  This  need  not  lead  us  to  suppose,  however,  that 
the  human  intellect  is  something  different  in  kind  from  the 
animal  mind.  Though  infinitely  more  complex,  it  may  con- 
ceivably be  looked  upon  as  the  last  and  most  complex  term 
in  a  series  of  evolutionary  changes,  to  which  reflex  action, 
instinct,  and  intelligence  directly  lead.  The  special 
superiority  of  each  animal  species  below  man  has  been 
gained  by  surrendering  the  possibility  of  advance  along 
other  lines.  The  range  of  possible  reactions  to  a  given 
stimulus  is  limited,  and  repetition  of  reaction  brings  about 
a  perfection  of  mechanism  comparatively  soon  after  birth, 
which  precludes  further  development.  Acquired  ability, 
therefore  has  its  limitations  in  the  animal  world. 

The  mind  of  man  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  superior  organ 
of  control,  designed  to  keep  track  of  a  great  multiplicity  of 
environmental  factors,  to  balance  them  up  with  reference  to 
activity,  and  thus  act  as  an  effective  instrument  in  subor- 
dinating the  environment  to  its  own  purposes.  Thinking  is 
not  a  single  process :  it  represents  rather  an  organization  of 
processes  working  together  to  evaluate  activity  with  ref- 
erence to  a  highly  complex  environment,  and  thus  to  select 
from  a  number  of  possible  responses  the  response  which  will 
be  most  successful  in  controlling  the  environment  not  only 
in  the  present  but  in  the  future.  The  evolutionary  point 
of  view  makes  it  clear  that  the  various  faculties  such  as 
sensation,  memory,  imagination,  reasoning  and  the  like, 
each  of  which  was  regarded  by  the  older  psychologists  as 
distinct  in  itself,  are  simply  various  aspects  of  a  vast  com- 
plex of  conscious  processes  working  together  to  enable  the 
human  species  to  deal  effectively  with  an  infinitely  complex 
and  varied  environment.  By  means  of  the  working  together 


18  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

of  this  elaborate  mechanism  the  human  mind  is  able  to 
select  from  the  countless  stimuli  presented  to  it  those  which 
need  attention  for  the  advancement  of  the  organism,  to 
organize  its  various  resources,  and  thus  to  respond  in  appro- 
priate and  effective  ways.  Through  sensations  we  receive 
reports  indicating  the  condition  of  affairs  with  reference 
to  which  we  have  to  act.  In  a  complex  situation  the  reports 
are  diverse,  and  contain  seemingly  incompatible  elements. 
The  mind  is  thus  confronted  with  a  problem  and  the 
demands  for  its  solution  determine  the  nature  of  the  con- 
scious processes  emploj^ed.  The  mind  is  not  merely  an 
organ  for  receiving  stimuli ;  it  is  also  a  recording  apparatus, 
storing  up  valuable  impressions  which  may  be  recalled  at  a 
future  time  in  association  with  others,  for  the  solution  of  a 
problem.  This  characteristic  of  mind  we  call  memory. 
Habit  is  a  path  of  preferred  conduction  between  stimulus 
and  response  due  to  the  repetition  of  similar  experiences. 
It  quickens  reaction,  and  by  making  part  of  the  mental 
process  automatic  lessens  fatigue,  thus  releasing  conscious- 
ness for  more  important  phases.  Through  imagination 
phases  of  experience  not  present  to  the  senses  can  be  real- 
ized, details  of  past  experiences  can  be  combined  in  new  and. 
original  ways,  tentative  ways  of  meeting  a  situation  can  be 
projected.  Through  the  exercise  of  judgment  the  sugges- 
tions for  meeting  the  situation  can  be  evaluated,  those 
irrelevant  rejected,  and  those  relevant  selected.  As  a  result 
of  this  complex  process  response  follows  in  the  form  of 
action. 

It  is  by  means  of  this  marvelously  complex  organization 
of  conscious  processes  that  man  has  escaped  from  routine 
existence,  that  he  is  able  to  meet  new  situations  with  in- 
genious solutions,  that  experience  is  being  constantly  recon- 
structed and  continuity  in  behavior  established.  Through 
it  man  has  secured  control  of  the  earth  and  transformed  it 
into  a  human  world. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      19 


READING 

Dewey,  John. — Article  on  Stimulus  und  Response,  Cyclo- 
paedia of  Education.    Macmillan. 
Miller,  I.  E. — The  Psychology  of  Thinking ,  Macmillan. 
Chap.  III.  Sensory-Motor  Circuit. 
Chap.    IV.  The    Significance    and    Function    of 

Consciousness. 
C^ap.     V.  Differentiation   and    Organization    of 

Consciousness. 
Chap.    VI.  Organic  Unity  of  Mental  and  Motor 

Life. 
Chap.  VII.  Typical  Modes  of  Adjustment. 
Morgan,  C.  L. — Animal  Behaviour,  Arnold,  London. 
Chap.     II.  Consciousness. 
Chap.  III.  Instinctive  Behaviour. 
Chap.  IV.  Intelligent  Behaviour. 
Chap.    VI.  The  Feelings  and  Emotions. 
Thomas,  W.  I. — Source  Book  for  Social  Origins,  Part  XL 

University  of  Chicago  Press. 
Thorndike,  E.  L. — Educational  Psychology,  Teachers  Col- 
lege Publication. 

The  Significance  of  Childhood. — The  human  infant  is 
born  more  helpless  than  the  young  of  any  other  animal 
and  its  time  for  coming  to  maturity  is  relatively 
very  long.  At  first  this  might  seem  to  be  a  dis- 
advantage in  the  struggle  for  existence.  Modern  scien- 
tists have  shown,  however,  that  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  a 
powerful  asset  having  great  influence  on  human  supremacy. 
All  creatures  are  endowed  at  birth  with  innate  capacities 
essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  species.  The  young  of 
most  animals  inherit  a  fairly  perfect  instinctive  mechanism 
which  comes  to  maturity  soon  after  birth.  Although  the 
perfection  of  this  instinctive  equipment  makes  for  efficiency 
along  the  lines  for  which  it  was  designated,  the  very  per- 
fection of  the  mechanism  precludes  development  beyond  the 
limits  prescribed.    It  does  not  permit  of  great  variation  of 


20  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

response.  Man's  nervous  system,  on  the  other  hand,  is  more 
plastic  than  that  of  other  animals.  The  human  infant  is  bom 
with  a  very  unspeeialized  instinctive  equipment ;  it  is  little 
more  than  a  bundle  of  original  tendencies  modifiable  to  al- 
most any  degree.  It  has,  however,  strong  and  urgent  im- 
pulses to  action.  This  is  a  combination  that  makes  for  growth. 
With  an  original  endowment  that  is  general  in  character,  and 
through  the  constant  demands  of  specific  situations,  intelli- 
gence is  developed  rapidly  and  adaptations  are  made  to  new 
conditions,  as  these  present  themselves.  Because  the  child 
starts  out  with  few  instinctive  modes  of  behavior  definitely 
determined  in  advance,  his  powers  may  be  continually 
modified  and  organized  through  his  own  specific  experiences 
into  the  kind  of  equipment  best  adapted  to  advancing  his 
individual  needs. 

In  the  human  infant,  then,  we  have  the  creature  which 
though  seemingly  helpless,  is  really  best  adapted  to  develop- 
ing adequately  for  a  highly  complex  environment.  This 
point  of  view  puts  a  high  positive  value  upon  childhood; 
it  is  a  great  powerful  human  resource  to  be  guarded  and 
conserved.  John  Fiske  was  the  first  to  make  clear  the 
significance  of  infancy  in  relation  to  human  supremacy. 

In  the  Meaning  of  Infancy  he  says:  *'What  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  fact  that  man  is  born  into  the  world  more  helpless 
than  any  other  creature,  and  needs  for  a  much  longer 
season  than  any  other  living  thing  the  tender  care  and 
counsel  of  his  elders?  It  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  of 
facts  that  man,  alone  among  animals,  exhibits  a  capacity  for 
progress.  That  man  is  widely  different  from  other  animals 
in  the  length  of  his  adolescence  and  the  utter  helplessness 
of  his  babyhood,  is  an  equally  familiar  fact.  .  .  . 

*'Let  us  now  take  a  long  leap  from  the  highest  level  of 
human  intelligence  to  the  mental  life  of  a  turtle  or  a  codfish. 
In  what  does  the  mental  life  of  such  creatures  consist  ?  It 
consists  of  a  few  simple  acts  mostly  concerned  with  the 
securing  of  food  and  the  avoiding  of  danger,  and  these  few 
simple  acts  are  repeated  with  unvarying  monotony  during 
the  whole  lifetime  of  these  creatures.  .  .  .  Among  slightly 
teachable  mammals,  however,  there  is  one  group  more  teach- 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      21 

able  than  the  rest.  Monkeys,  with  their  greater  power  of 
handling  things,  have  also  more  inquisitiveness  and  more 
capacity  for  sustained  attention  than  any  other  mammals; 
and  the  higher  apes  are  fertile  in  varied  resources.  ...  At 
some  remote  epoch  of  the  past — we  cannot  say  just  when  or 
how — our  half-human  forefathers  reached  and  passed  this 
critical  point,  and  forthwith  their  varied  struggles  began 
age  after  age  to  result  in  the  preservation  of  bigger  and 
better  brains,  while  the  rest  of  their  bodies  changed  but 
little.  .  .  . 

"But  this  steady  increase  of  intelligence,  as  our  fore- 
fathers began  to  become  human,  carried  with  it  a  steady 
prolongation  of  infancy.  As  mental  life  became  more  com- 
plex and  various,  as  the  things  to  be  learned  kept  ever 
multiplying,  less  and  less  could  be  done  before  birth,  more 
and  more  must  be  left  to  be  done  in  the  earlier  years  of 
life.  So  instead  of  being  born  with  a  few  simple  capacities 
thoroughly  organized,  man  came  at  last  to  be  born  with  the 
germs  of  many  complex  capacities  which  were  reserved  to 
be  unfolded  and  enhanced  or  checked  and  stifled  by  the 
incidents  of  personal  experience  in  each  individual.  .  .  . 
Here  at  last  there  had  come  upon  the  scene  a  creature 
endowed  with  the  capacity  for  progress,  and  a  new  chapter 
was  thus  opened  in  the  history  of  creation."  (John  Fiske*, 
TJie  Meaning  of  Infancy y  pp.  1-13.*) 

A  full  realization  of  the  far-reaching  implications  of 
childhood  brings  with  it  as  a  necessary  complement  an 
appreciation  of  the  real  meaning  of  play  in  the  life  of  the 
child.  Child's  play  is  not  to  be  regarded  lightly;  it  is  not 
a  relaxation  nor  a  diversion.  Nature's  purpose  in  implant- 
ing the  play  impulse  is  a  serious  one  and  the  child,  as  any- 
one can  see  by  watching,  applies  himself  seriously  to  carry- 
ing it  out.  Karl  Groos  summed  up  the  fundamental  bio- 
logical significance  of  play  in  these  words:  ''Children  do 
not  play  because  they  are  young;  they  are  young  in  order 
that  they  may  play."     Play  gives  exercise  to  the  deep- 

*By  permission  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.  Copyright  1883  and  1889 
by  John  Fiske.  Copyi-ight  1909  by  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.  Copyright 
1911  by  Abby  M.  Fiske. 


^2  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

seated  motor  instincts  of  tlie  child.  Under  the  powerful 
stimulus  of  the  play  impulse  the  child  is  driven  to  incessant 
action ;  and  thus  develops  in  an  experimental  way  his  own 
methods  of  making  adaptations  to  the  infinitely  varying 
conditions  of  his  life.  By  this  method  the  crude,  general, 
original  endowment  of  the  child  is,  through  endless  adapta- 
tions, converted  into  a  more  specialized  form  more  ade- 
quately suited  to  his  particular  needs.  Impelled  by  his 
eager  spontaneous  curiosity  about  his  surroundings,  follow- 
ing the  leadings  of  a  broad  and  catholic  interest  in  persons 
and  things,  the  child  is  busy  laying  a  wide  and  secure 
foundation  of  first-hand  experiences  for  understanding  all 
phases  of  his  complex  environment.  He  is  absorbed  in 
getting  through  an  all  round  contact  with  persons  and 
things  that  wide  range  of  acquaintance  with  his  physical 
and  social  environment  which  will  serve  as  the  foundation 
for  the  more  specialized  pursuits  of  later  life.  Play  enables 
the  child  to  realize  his  powers  through  putting  them  to  a 
variety  of  uses.  It  is  no  doubt  to  this  fact  that  the  dis- 
tinguishing characteristics  of  the  play  impulse  are  due — 
interest  in  play  for  its  own  sake,  with  a  corresponding  dis- 
regard for  the  product ;  the  wide  range  of  interest,  and  the 
quick  shift  of  attention  from  one  thing  to  the  next ;  the 
incessant  demands  of  curiosity ;  the  desire  to  handle  things ; 
the  interest  in  doing  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again. 

READING 

Chamberlain,  A.  E. — The  Child,  a  Study  in  Evolution. 
Scribner. 

Chap.      I.  The  Meaning  of  The  Helplessness  of  In- 
fancy. 
Chap.    II.  The  Meaning  of  Youth  and  Play. 
Chap.  IV.  The  Periods  of  Childhood. 
Dewey,  John. — ^Articles  on  Infancy  and  Play.  Cyclopaedia 

of  Education.    Macmillan. 
FiSKE,  John. — The  Meaning  of  Infancy.    Houghton. 
Groos,  Karl. — The  Play  of  Animals.    Appleton. 
Groos,  Karl. — The  Play  of  Man.    Appleton. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      23 

Morgan,  C.  L. — Animal  Behaviour.    Arnold,  London. 
Chap.  IV,  Section  II.  Play. 

The  Social  Basis 

The  great  distinguishing  feature  of  human  adaptation  in 
contrast  to  that  of  the  animal  world  is  its  social  character. 
Sociological  considerations  have  to  do  with  the  ways  in 
which  natural  evolution  has  been  modified  in  the  life  of 
man,  and  in  particular  with  the  modifications  brought  about 
about  by  group  life.  Life  in  society  is  not,  of  course, 
entirely  confined  to  man.  It  is  the  rule  rather  than  the 
exception  in  the  animal  world.  Among  the  expedients  into 
which  the  struggle  for  existence  has  forced  animals,  the 
most  effective  is  that  of  living  together  in  communities. 
The  animals  that  can  best  avail  themselves  of  the  advan- 
tages of  association  multiply  their  individual  forces  and 
attain  a  safety  that  no  isolated  animal  could  ever  achieve. 
The  non-gregarious  animals  are  therefore  gradually  out- 
numbered by  those  that  are  social.  As  we  study  animal 
life  we  perceive  that  although  there  is  an  immense  amount 
of  warfare  among  different  species,  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
mutual  support  for  defence  among  animals  of  the  same 
species.  This  cooperation  shows  a  great  variety  of  forms 
ranging  all  the  way  from  the  mere  gregariousness  of  ani- 
mals who  temporarily  associate  themselves  into  herds  and 
flocks  the  better  to  protect  themselves  against  their  enemies ; 
to  the  highly  organized  group  life  of  such  animals  as  the 
ants  and  bees,  who  form  a  highly  interdependent  and  uni- 
fied community.  The  conditions  of  life  tend  to  keep  ani- 
mals of  the  same  species  together.  Social  life  of  a  kind  is 
therefore  a  direct  outcome  of  the  life  process. 

There  is  a  vast  difference,  however,  between  the  social 
life  of  even  the  most  advanced  animals  and  that  of  the 
most  primitive  tribes  of  men.  Among  animals  group  life  is 
developed  only  so  far  as  it  will  satisfy  animal  needs;  since 
their  needs  are  strictly  limited,  group  life  is  likewise  limited 
and  must  always  remain  so.  Social  relationships  among 
animals  living  in  even  a  highly  organized  community  are 


24  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

upon  a  strictly  physiological  basis.  Division  of  labor  often 
brings  about  changes  in  structure  so  that  individuals  are 
unable  to  exist  away  from  the  community  of  which  they 
are  part.  Such  a  condition  of  affairs  makes  for  a  static 
community  life ;  social  evolution  under  these  circumstances 
is  impossible.  Human  association,  on  the  contrary,  is 
psychical;  it  is  the  result  of  interstimulation  and  response 
on  the  part  of  relatively  independent  individual  units. 
Man  satisfies  his  elemental  needs  through  effort,  each  satis- 
faction opens  up  new  wants,  and  new  conditions  present 
new  problems  calling  for  new  and  original  solutions.  Thus 
are  set  up  two  indeterminate,  interacting  series  of  develop- 
ments ;  on  the  one  hand  increasing  wants,  and  on  the  other 
an  ever  increasing  variety  of  natural  resources.  In  his 
effort  to  satisfy  his  wants  the  advantages  of  association  and 
cooperation  soon  became  apparent  to  primitive  man.  Thus 
came  into  being  a  psychic  interaction  that  might  be  called 
social  in  the  real  sense  of  the  word.  This  psychic  inter- 
stimulation was  made  possible  by  the  possession  of  language 
by  which  the  ideas  of  one  person  could  be  transmitted  to 
another  and  more  effective  forms  of  cooperation  continually 
evolved.  When  men  thus  united  upon  the  earth,  a  new 
type  of  functional  and  structural  changes  was  set  in 
motion ;  social  evolution  became  possible. 

READING 

Ellwood,  C.  a. — An  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology, 
Appleton. 

Chap.      II.  Organic  Evolution  and  Social  Evolu- 

lution. 
Chap.    III.  Human  Nature  and  Human  Society. 
Chaps.  IV.  and  V.  The  Nature  of  Social  Unity. 
Chap.     IX.  Instinct  and  Intelligence  in  The  Social 
Life. 
Ellwood,  C.  a. — Sociology  in  Its  Psychological  Aspects, 
Appleton. 

Chap.  VII.  The  Origin  of  Society. 
GiDDiNGS,  F.  H. — The  Elements  of  Sociology,  Macmillan. 
Chap.  XX.  The  Early  History  of  Society. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      25 

Kropotkin,  p.  a. — Mutual  Aid;  A  Factor  of  Evolution, 
Knopf. 

McGee,  W.  J. — TJie  Relation  of  Institutions  to  Environ- 
ment.   Report  of  Smithsonian  Institution,  1895. 

Morgan,  C.  L. — Animal  Behaviour,  Arnold,  London. 
Chap.  V.  Social  Behaviour. 

Powell,  J.  W. — From  Barharism  to  Civilization,  American 
Anthropologist,  1888. 


The  Evolution  of  Occupations 

Man's  existence,  like  that  of  the  rest  of  the  organic  world, 
is  dependent  upon  his  own  exertions.  Animals  are  forced 
to  get  their  food  wherever  they  can  find  it,  and  to  pass 
from  one  environment  to  another  to  obtain  it.  Primitive 
man  was  also  a  migrating  animal,  dependent  upon  what 
nature  had  to  offer  him  for  support,  and  obliged  to  wander 
to  a  new  environment  when  he  had  exhausted  the  food 
supply  of  the  previous  one.  Though  early  man  was  inferior 
to  other  animals  in  various  physical  respects,  he  possessed 
a  type  of  psychical  equipment  which  gave  him  an  immediate 
advantage  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  was  the  means 
by  which  he  gained  his  supreme  position  in  the  organic 
world.  **...!  ask  you  ...  go  with  me  to  that  early  day 
when  the  first  being,  worthy  to  be  called  man,  stood  upon  this 
earth.  How  economical  has  been  his  endowment.  There  is 
no  hair  on  his  body  to  keep  him  warm,  his  jaws  are  the 
feeblest  in  the  world,  his  arm  is  not  equal  to  that  of  a 
gorilla,  he  cannot  fiy  like  the  eagle,  he  cannot  see  into  the 
night  like  the  owl,  even  the  hare  is  fleeter  than  he.  He 
has  no  clothing,  no  shelter.  He  had  no  tools,  no  society  or 
language  or  arts  of  pleasure,  he  had  yet  no  theory  of  life 
and  poorer  conceptions  of  the  life  beyond.  The  road  from 
that  condition  to  our  own  lies  next  to  the  infinite.  The  one 
endowment  that  this  creature  possessed  having  in  it  the 
promise  and  potency  of  all  future  achievements,  was  the 
creative  spark  called  invention.''  (0.  T.  Mason,  Birth  of 
Invention,  Smithsonian  Institution,  1892,  p.  604.) 


26  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

The  assumption  of  the  erect  attitude,  and  the  consequent 
liberation  of  the  hands  for  specialized  movements,  gave 
primitive  man  an  immediate  superiority  over  all  other 
animals.  It  not  only  enabled  him  to  hurl  weapons  while 
escaping  from  his  enemies,  but  to  break  stones  and  other 
loose  objects  for  definite  purposes.  Animals  have  only  a 
limited  power  outside  of  their  own  bodies  for  strengthening 
themselves  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  but  the  free  use  of 
the  hand  has  had  a  great  reflex  upon  developing  the  brain 
of  man,  stimulating  it  to  devise  ever  better  methods  of 
satisfying  his  expanding  needs.  He  began  supplement- 
ing the  power  of  the  body  with  simple  tools;  he  learned 
to  lengthen  his  arms  by  means  of  poles,  to  make 
rakes  instead  of  using  his  hands,  hooks  instead  of  fingers, 
and  so  on,  and  gradually  evolved  for  himself  a  wealth  of 
extra  organs  from  his  environment.  At  first  these  were 
mere  adaptations  of  materials  half  formed  by  nature — 
branches  of  trees,  stones,  bones  of  animals,  shells,  and  so 
on.  By  these  means  man  gradually  learned  to  exploit  his 
own  environment  instead  of  being  forced  from  one  place 
to  another  in  search  of  food.  Instead  of  seeking  a  cave 
or  retiring  to  a  more  congenial  climate,  he  learned  to  make 
his  environment  serve  him.  He  built  houses  and  warmed 
them,  he  dressed  in  the  furs  and  skins  of  certain  animals  and 
domesticated  others,  he  cultivated  plants,  and  exercised  his 
ingenuity  in  devising  utensils  for  his  home,  and  implements 
for  the  advancement  of  his  domestic  life. 

The  fundamental  difference  between  animal  industry  and 
that  of  man  lies  in  the  fact  that  animal  industry  is  ruled 
by  instinct  and  therefore  does  not  progress  from  generation 
to  generation,  while  human  industry  is  governed  by  in- 
ventive genius  and  is  therefore  capable  of  indefinite 
improvement.  The  human  possibility  of  transmitting  ideas 
by  means  of  language  is  also  another  powerful  factor  in 
the  development  of  occupations.  *'The  two  outer  traits  in 
which  the  distinction  between  the  minds  of  animal  and  of 
man  finds  expression  are  the  existence  of  organized  artic- 
ulate language  in  man,  and  the  use  of  utensils  of  varied 
application.    Both  of  these  are  common  to  the  whole  of 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      27 

mankind.  No  tribe  has  ever  been  found  that  does  not 
possess  a  well  organized  language ;  no  community  that  does 
not  know  the  use  of  instruments  for  breaking,  cutting,  or 
drilling,  the  use  of  fire  and  of  weapons  with  which  to  defend 
themselves  and  to  obtain  the  means  of  living.  Although 
means  of  communication  by  sound  exist  in  animals,  and 
although  even  lower  animals  seem  to  have  means  of 
bringing  about  cooperation  between  different  individuals, 
we  do  not  know  of  any  case  of  true  articulate  language 
from  which  the  student  can  extract  abstract  principles  of 
classification  of  ideas.  It  may  also  be  that  higher  apes 
employ  now  and  then  limbs  of  trees  or  stones  for  defence, 
but  the  use  of  complex  utensils  is  not  found  in  any  repre- 
sentative of  the  animal  series.  Only  in  the  case  of  habita- 
tions do  we  find  an  approach  to  more  complex  activities, 
which,  however,  remain  absolutely  stable  in  each  species — 
as  we  say,  instinctive — and  bear  the  evidence  of  any  indi- 
vidual freedom  of  use,  which  constitutes  the  primary  char- 
acter of  human  inventions.  The  origin  of  the  instinctive 
activities  of  animals  which  lead  to  the  construction  of  com- 
plex mechanical  devices  is  still  a  hidden  secret;  but  the 
relation  of  the  individual  of  the  species  to  these  activities 
differs  from  that  of  man  to  his  inventions  in  the  complete 
lack  of  freed,om  of  control.''  (F.  Boas,  The  Mmd  of 
Primitive  Man,  pp.  96-97.*) 

Thus  we  see  as  one  aspect  of  the  evolution  of  industry  a 
gradual  elaboration  of  industrial  processes  and  variation  in 
tools  from  the  mere  adaptations  of  bones  and  stones  made 
by  primitive  man,  to  the  wonderful  specimens  of  modern 
machinery,  as  a  result  of  the  inventions  made  by  man,  in  an 
effort  to  satisfy  his  ever  expanding  needs.  Occupations 
have  progressed  from  the  primitive  arts  of  hunting  and 
fishing  to  agriculture,  mining  and  manufacturing.  The 
resources  of  one  region  have  been  increased  by  bringing 
commodities  from  places  where  they  are  superabundant  to 
places  where  they  are  needed.  This  development  of  occu- 
pations has  taken  place  in  a  haphazard  way  in  accordance 
with  the  predominating  needs  of  the  time.     **Now  the 

*By  permission  The  Macmillan  Co.    Copyright  1911, 


28  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

exploitation  takes  the  form  of  discovering  the  species  of 
plants  that  will  respond  most  readily  to  man*s  care;  again, 
it  is  a  search  for  earth's  hidden  secrets;  at  one  time  it 
is  an  attempt  to  find  the  most  favorable  routes  of  travel  or 
the  most  advantageous  sites  for  trade;  at  another  it  is  a 
search  for  the  choicest  soils  which  can  be  made  subject  to 
man's  needs  by  the  use  of  new  instruments  and  the  means 
of  maintaining  collective  activity.  It  may  be  a  search  in  the 
sky  for  the  means  of  determining  the  approach  of  a  new 
season  or  a  means  of  guiding  the  traveler  at  sea ;  perhaps  it 
is  a  series  of  experiments  with  new  materials  in  order  to 
bring  about  desirable  features  accidentally  revealed;  and 
sometimes  it  is  an  attempt  to  discover  different  forms  of 
motive  power  or  the  means  of  applying  the  same."  (K.  E. 
Dopp,  The  Place  of  Industries  in  Elementary  Education, 
pp.  66-67.) 

In  the  early  days  every  family  was  its  own  **  butcher, 
baker,  and  candlestick  maker."  Every  household  had  to 
meet  all  the  economic  requirements  of  its  members  with  its 
own  labor.  Often  a  single  individual  carried  on  the  whole 
round  of  activities  from  the  search  for  the  raw  materials 
to  the  use  of  the  finished  product.  This  situation  in  which 
the  whole  burden  of  the  processes  from  production  to  con- 
sumption fell  upon  one  person,  was  rich  in  opportunities 
for  the  exercise  of  inventive  ingenuity.  It  demanded 
intelligence  and  versatility,  and  dexterity  in  execution. 
Moreover  the  connection  between  production  and  use  was 
obvious,  and  the  value  of  labor  estimated  accordingly.  The 
whole  set  of  processes  from  production  to  consumption 
received  its  impulse  and  direction  from  the  needs  of  the 
consumers.  Occupations,  in  short,  had  a  highly  functional 
character.  The  advantages  of  cooperation  and  the  division 
of  labor  according  to  natural  aptitudes  soon,  however,  made 
themselves  manifest,  and  combined  action  in  hunting, 
fishing,  and  for  defence  early  became  the  rule.  With  the 
advance  of  social  life  in  complesity,  labor  became  more  and 
more  specialized.  Each  successive  specialization,  though  it 
tended  to  weaken  the  pleasurable  emotional  reflex  resulting 
from  the  close  union  of  production  and  consumption,  gave 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      29 

increased  efficiency  in  production,  and  was  therefore  en- 
couraged. The  progress  of  civilization  with  its  consequent 
increasing  complexity  of  the  industrial  processes  is  marked 
by  a  greater  and  greater  distance  between  the  producer  and 
the  consumer,  and  therefore  by  a  greater  disassociation  of 
wholesome  emotional  reflexes  from  labor.  The  matter  has 
been  further  complicated  by  the  institution  of  slavery.  In 
the  days  of  slavery  labor  was  compulsory.  It  became  distaste- 
ful to  the  master  class  because  of  its  association  with  an 
inferior  class.  It  was  irksome  to  the  slave  because  the 
problem  was  external  to  his  own  interests  and  needs.  He 
was  no  longer  free  to  choose  the  conditions  under  which  he 
worked.  Labor  which  was  originally  a  free  expression  of 
the  whole  of  society  became  the  forced  expression  of  cer- 
tain members.  Succeeding  stages  of  culture  have  tended  to 
perpetuate  the  distinction  between  classes,  and  in  the  course 
of  time  society  has  come  to  be  sharply  diiSferentiated  into  two 
great  social  classes:  a  wealthy  leisure  class,  who,  though 
they  may  engage  in  a  variety  of  pursuits,  choose  those 
which  are  non-industrial,  and  the  ''lower'*  class,  the  indus- 
trial workers,  who  carry  on  the  work  of  the  world  at  the 
command  of  the  wealthy. 

READING 

BxJCHER,  C. — Industrial  Evolution,  Holt. 

Chap.     I.  Primitive  Economic  Conditions. 
Chap.  II.  The  Economic  Life  of  Primitive  People. 
Dopp,  K.  E. — The  Place  of  Industries  in  Education,  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  II.  Significance  of  Industrial  Epochs. 
Herbertson,  a.  J.  and  F.  D. — Man  and  His  Work,  Mac- 
millan. 

Chap.  VIII.  Agriculture. 
Chap.     IX.  Rise  of  the  Arts. 
Chap.       X.  Rise  of  Manufactures. 
Chap.     XI.  Trade  and  Transport. 
Mason,  0.  T. — The  Birth  of  Invention^  Report  of  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  1892. 


80  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Powell,  J.  W. — Technology,  or  tJie  Science  of  Industries, 

American  Anthropologist,  1899. 
Thomas,  W.  I. — Source  Book  for  Social  Origins,  University 
of  Chicago  Press. 

Part  III.  Invention  and  Technology. 
Veblen,  T. — The  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class,  Huebsch. 

Chap.      I.  Introductory. 

Chap.    II.  Pecuniary  Emulation. 

Chap.  III.  Conspicuous  Leisure. 

Chap.  IV.  Conspicuous  Consumption. 

Chap.    V.  The  Pecuniary  Standard  of  Living. 

The  Influence  of  Environment  upon  the  Development  of 
Social  Life 

Man,  like  all  organic  life,  is,  as  we  have  seen,  dependent 
upon  his  environment  for  his  means  of  subsistence.  All 
material  progress  depends  upon  the  interaction  of  man  and 
his  environment.  "Every  clan,  tribe,  state  or  nation  in- 
cludes two  ideas,  a  people  and  its  land,  the  first  unthink- 
able without  the  other.  ...  A  land  is  fully  comprehended 
only  when  studied  in  the  light  of  its  influence  upon  its  people 
and  a  people  cannot  be  fully  understood  apart  from  the  field 
of  its  activities.  More  than  this,  human  activities  are  fully 
intelligible  only  in  relation  to  the  various  geographic  con- 
ditions which  have  stimulated  them  in  different  parts  of  the 
world.  .  .  .  the  modern  society  or  state  has  grown  into 
every  foot  of  its  own  soil,  exploited  its  every  geographic 
advantage,  utilized  its  geographic  location  to  enrich  itself 
by  international  trade,  and  when  possible,  to  absorb  out- 
lying territories  by  means  of  colonies.  The  broader  this 
geographic  base,  the  richer,  the  more  varied  its  resources, 
and  the  more  favorable  its  climate  to  their  exploitation,  the 
more  numerous  and  complex  are  the  connections  which  the 
members  of  the  social  group  can  establish  with  it,  and 
through  it  with  each  other ;  or  in  other  words,  the  greater 
may  be  its  ultimate  historical  significance.  (E.  C.  Semple, 
Influences  of  Geographic  Environment^  pp.  51-53.*)     By 

*By  permission  Henry  Holt  &  Co.    Copyright  1911. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION     81 

virtue  of  his  higher  intelligence  man  alone  among  animals 
has  the  power  to  react  upon  his  environment  in  a  way  to 
render  it  more  beneficial  to  himself.  Primitive  man  was 
very  dependent  upon  his  physical  environment ;  he  was  able 
to  form  only  a  few  and  intermittent  relations  with  any  one 
place,  and  was  therefore  forced  to  be  a  wanderer ;  his  social 
organization  was,  as  a  consequence,  weak  and  loosely  held 
together.  Environmental  conditions  have  given  direction 
to  the  economic  instincts  of  man  and  thus  have  indirectly 
affected  social  life.  Social  life  began  in  regions  where  raw 
materials  abounded  and  where  food  and  shelter  could  be 
obtained  through  a  medium  amount  of  exertion.  By  his  ^ 
inventive  genius,  expressed  in  his  industrial  development, 
however,  man  has  steadily  advanced  from  subjection  to  his ' 
physical  environment  to  control  of  it.  He  has  decided  to 
what  environment  he  wished  to  be  subjected,  and  then 
deliberately  sought  to  create  such  an  environment.  ''The 
relation  of  geographical  conditions  to  national  growth 
changes,  and  with  the  upward  progress  of  humanity  the 
ways  in  which  Nature  moulds  the  fortunes  of  man  are 
always  varying.  Man  must  in  every  stage  be  for  many 
purposes  dependent  upon  the  circumstances  of  his  physical 
environment.  Yet  the  character  of  that  dependence  changes 
with  his  advance  in  civilization.  At  first  he  is  helpless,  and, 
therefore  passive.  With  what  nature  gives  in  the  way  of 
food,  clothing,  and  lodging  he  must  be  content.  She  is 
strong,  he  is  weak;  so  she  dictates  his  whole  mode  of  life. 
Presently,  always  by  slow  degrees,  but  most  quickly  in  those 
countries  where  she  neither  gives  lavishly  nor  yet  presses 
on  him  with  a  discouraging  severity,  he  begins  to  learn  how 
to  make  her  obey  him,  drawing  from  her  stores  materials 
which  his  skill  handles  in  such  wise  as  to  make  him  more 
and  more  independent  of  her.  He  defies  the  rigors  of 
climate ;  he  overcomes  the  obstacles  which  mountains,  rivers, 
and  forests  place  in  the  way  of  communications;  he  dis- 
covers the  secrets  of  the  physical  forces  and  makes  them  his 
servants  in  the  work  of  production.  /But  the  very  multi- 
plication of  the  means  at  his  disposal  ior  profiting  by  what 
Nature  supplies  brings  him  into  ever  closer  and  more  com- 


32  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

pi  ex  relations  with  her.  The  variety  of  her  resources,  dif- 
fering in  different  regions,  prescribes  the  kind  of  industry 
for  which  each  spot  is  fitted;  .  .  .  Thus  certain  physical 
conditions,  whether  of  soil  or  of  climate,  of  accessibility 
or  inaccessibility,  or  perhaps  of  such  available  natural 
forces  as  water  power,  conditions  of  supreme  importance  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  man 's  progress,  are  now  of  less  relative 
moment,  while  others,  formerly  of  small  account,  have 
received  their  full  significance  by  our  swiftly  advancing 
knowledge  of  the  secrets  of  Nature  and  mastery  of  her 
forces.  (J.  Bryce,  The  American  Commonwealth,  Vol.  2, 
p.  450.*)  Although  physical  environment  influences  social 
life,  it  does  not  determine  human  development.  Every 
invention  that  is  made  alters  in  some  degree  the  existing 
social  environment;  with  every  step  of  human  progress, 
economic  and  social  forces  come  to  play  a  more  and  more 
imx>ortaut  part. 

READING 

GooDE,  J.  p. — The  Human  Response  to  the  Physical  En- 

vironment,  Journal  of  Geography,  September,  1904. 
Herbertson,  a.  J.  and  F.  D. — Man  and  His  Workf  Mac- 
millan. 

Introduction  and  first  six  chapters. 
Semple,   E.   C. — Influences  of  Geographic  Environment, 

Holt. 
Thomas,  W.  I. — Source  Book  for  Social  Origins,  University 
of  Chicago  Press. 

Part  L  The  Relation  of  Society  to  Geographic  and 
Economic  Environment. 

The  Relation  of  Occupations  to  the  Development  of  Social 

Life 

The  foregoing  discussion  has  indicated  the  relationship 
between  occupations  and  the  development  of  civilization. 
Industry  of  one  kind  or  another  has  been  a  dominant  force 

*By  permission  The  Maemillan  Co.  Copyright  1893  by  Macmillan 
&  Co.    Copyi-ight  1910,  1914  by  The  Macmillan  Co. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      33 

in  the  upbuilding  and  maintaining  of  social  structures. 
**The  activities  of  life  are  of  necessity  directed  to  bringing 
the  materials  and  forces  of  nature  under  the  control  of  our 
purposes;  of  making  them  tributary  to  ends  of  life.  Men 
have  had  to  work  in  order  to  live.  In  and  through  their 
work  they  have  mastered  nature,  they  have  protected  and 
enriched  the  conditions  of  their  own  life,  they  have  been 
awakened  to  the  sense  of  their  own  powers — they  have  been 
led  to  invent,  to  plan,  and  to  rejoice  in  the  acquisition  of 
skill.  In  a  rough  way,  all  occupations  may  be  classified  as 
gathering  about  man^s  fundamental  relations  to  the  world 
in  which  he  lives,  through  getting  food  to  maintain  life; 
securing  clothing  and  shelter  to  protect  and  ornament  it, 
and  thus,  finally,  to  provide  a  permanent  home  in  which 
all  the  higher  and  more  spiritual  interests  may  center." 
(John  Dewey,  Tlie  School  and  Society,  pp.  135-136.)  Eco- 
nomic facts  are  thus  seen  to  constitute  the  sub-structure  of 
society  which  conditions  its  very  existence.  Economic  con- 
ditions have  always  controlled  social  conditions.  So  long 
as  man  could  satisfy  his  needs  without  the  help  of  his  fel- 
lows, isolated  production  was  the  rule ;  but  as  the  economic 
struggle  became  more  severe  utilitarian  motives  led  to  co- 
operation. Economic  necessity  thus  determined  the  original 
forms  of  social  life  out  of  which  higher  forms  were  grad- 
ually developed.  The  important  factor  in  social  change  is 
therefore  the  economic  factor.  Economic  considerations 
deal  with  only  one  class  of  human  wants,  and  there  are 
many  other  classes  of  social  wants  connected  with  the  devel- 
opment of  a  state  to  any  degree  of  social  advancement;  but 
in  general  social  relations  between  people  have  been  largely 
determined  by  economic  considerations.  *'The  existence  of 
man  depends  upon  his  ability  to  sustain  himself;  the 
economic  life  is  therefore  the  fundamental  condition  of  all 
life.  ...  To  economic  causes,  therefore,  must  be  traced  in 
last  instance  those  transformations  in  the  structure  of 
society  which  themselves  condition  the  relations  of  social 
classes  and  the  various  manifestations  of  social  life." 
(E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  The  Economic  Interpretation  of  His- 
tory, p.  3.) 


34  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

The  economic  and  industrial  aspects  of  society  show  ^'the 
great  advances  in  civilization  that  have  come  through  those 
manifestations  of  intelligence  which  have  lifted  man  from 
his  precarious  subjection  to  nature,  and  revealed  to  him 
how  he  may  make  its  forces  cooperate  with  his  own  pur- 
poses.'' We  see  therefore  that  ''The  industrial  history  of 
man  is  not  a  materialistic  or  merely  utilitarian  affair.  It 
is  a  matter  of  intelligence.  Its  record  is  the  record  of  how 
man  learned  to  think,  to  think  to  some  effect,  to  transform 
the  conditions  of  life  so  that  life  itself  became  a  different 
thing.  It  is  an  ethical  record  as  well;  the  account  of  the 
conditions  which  men  have  patiently  wrought  out  to  serve 
their  ends.'*  (John  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society,  pp. 
156-157.) 

READING 

Dopp,  K.  E. — The  Relation  of  History  and  Industry,  Ele- 
mentary School  Teacher,  March,  1904. 

GiDDiNGS,  F.  H. — The  Economic  Significance  of  Culture, 
Political  Science  Quarterly,  September,  1903. 

Herbertson,  a.  J.  and  F.  D. — Man  and  His  Work,  Mac- 
millan. 

Chap.  yil.  The  Influence  of  Occupation  on  the 
Mode  of  Life. 

Seligman,  E.  R.  a. — The  Economic  Interpretation  of  His- 
tory, Columbia  University  Press. 

The  Relation  of  Art  and  Science  to  Occupations 

Art  has  always  been  an  important  factor  in  community 
life  and  in  determining  progress.  Grosse  in  his  Begin- 
nings of  Art,  says:  "There  is  no  people  without  art  .  .  . 
even  the  rudest  and  most  miserable  tribes  devote  a  large 
part  of  their  time  and  strength  to  art — art,  which  is  looked 
down  upon  and  treated  by  civilized  nations,  from  the  height 
of  their  practical  and  scientific  achievements,  more  and 
more  as  idle  play.  And  yet  it  seems  wholly  inconceivable, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  modern  science,  that  a  function  to 
which  so  great  a  mass  of  energy  is  applied  should  be  of  no 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      35 

consequence  in  the  maintenance  and  the  development  of  the 
social  organism;  for  if  the  energy  which  man  devotes  to 
aesthetic  creation  and  enjoyments  were  lost  in  the  earnest 
and  essential  tasks  of  life,  if  art  were  indeed  only  idle  play, 
then  natural  selection  should  have  long  ago  rejected  the 
peoples  which  wasted  their  force  in  so  purposeless  a  way,  in 
favour  of  other  peoples  of  practical  talents ;  and  art  could 
not  possibly  have  been  developed  so  highly  and  richly  as  it 
has  been  .  .  .  the  differences  between  primitive  and 
higher  art  forms  appear  to  be  more  of  a  quantitative  than 
a  qualitative  sort.  The  emotions  represented  in  primitive 
art  are  narrow  and  rude,  its  materials  are  scanty,  its  forms 
are  poor  and  coarse,  but  in  its  essential  motives,  means  and 
aims  the  art  of  the  earliest  times  is  one  with  the  art  of  all 
times  .  .  .  the  most  efficient  and  most  beneficent  effect 
which  art  exercises  over  the  life  of  the  people  consists  in 
the  strengthening  and  extension  of  the  social  bonds  to  which 
it  contributes.  ...  As  science  enriches  and  elevates  our 
intellectual  life,  so  art  enriches  and  elevates  our  emotional 
life.  Art  and  science  are  the  two  most  powerful  means  for 
the  education  of  the  human  race.  Thus  art  is  no  idle  play, 
but  an  indispensable  social  function,  one  of  the  most  effi- 
cient weapons  in  the  struggle  for  existence;  ...  A  con- 
sciousness of  the  importance  of  art  to  social  welfare,  has 
moreover,  existed  in  man  in  all  ages.  .  .  .  "We  have  the 
right  to  demand  of  art  that  it  work  in  the  direction  of  a 
social  purpose.''  (E.  Grosse,  The  Beginnings  of  Art,  pp. 
307-315.*) 

We  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  vital  relationship  between 
art  and  ordinary  occupations  in  the  history  of  the  race. 
Industry  has  had  a  powerful  influence  in  developing  arts  of 
all  kinds.  The  industry  and  inventive  genius  of  early  man 
was  rewarded  by  leisure  which  gave  opportunity  for  expres- 
sion to  the  stores  of  energy  released.  *'It  is  in  such  periods 
as  these  that  we  find  activities  similar  in  kind  to  those  per- 
formed at  other  times,  but  different  in  their  end.  Free 
from  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  real  hunt,  the  savage 
plays  he  is  hunting,  and  we  have  the  beginning  of  the 

*By  permission  D.  Appleton  &  Co.    Copyright  1897. 


36  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

dance.  ...  At  other  times  man  may  expend  his  surplus 
energy  in  the  search  for  bright  and  shining  objects,  which  he 
may  pierce  and  string,  and  we. have  the  beginning  of  dress 
and  decoration ;  or  he  may  trace  in  the  sand,  or  on  the  walls 
of  his  cave,  or  on  the  bones  of  animals  he  has  slain,  mere 
lines  at  haphazard,  until  by  a  happy  coordination  he  pro- 
duces a  semblance  to  some  familiar  form,  and  we  have  the 
beginning  of  drawing.  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply 
instances  of  this  kind ;  but  these  are  sufficient  to  illustrate 
the  fact  that  the  beginnings  of  art  depend  upon  leisure  and 
an  accumulation  of  energy,  and  that  the  art  instinct,  which 
is  bound  up  at  first  with  the  workmanship  instinct,  becomes 
free  only  as  less  strenuous  conditions  of  life  afford  room  for 
its  manifestation."  (K.  E.  Dopp,  The  Place  of  Industries 
in  Education^  pp.  24-25.*) 

In  the  early  days  of  art  development  no  sharp  line 
divided  the  fine  from  the  useful  arts.  Use  and  beauty  were 
regarded  as  one;  their  separation  has  been  brought  about 
largely  by  commercial  production.  Any  useful  object — a 
piece  of  pottery,  a  bit  of  weaving,  a  basket,  an  implement 
for  hunting — took  on  an  art  value  when  the  maker  sought 
to  objectify  by  means  of  it  his  own  personal  thoughts  and 
feelings.  **  Everybody  who  has  not  a  purely  literary  view  of 
the  subject  recognizes  that  genuine  art  grows  out  of  the 
work  of  the  artisan.  The  art  of  the  Renaissance  was  great 
because  it  grew  out  of  the  manual  arts  of  life.  It  did  not 
spring  up  in  a  separate  atmosphere,  however  ideal,  but 
carried  on  to  their  spiritual  meaning  processes  found  in 
homely  and  everyday  forms  of  life.  .  .  .  The  merely  artisan 
side  is  narrow,  but  the  mere  art,  taken  by  itself,  and  grafted 
on  from  without,  tends  to  become  forced,  empty,  senti- 
mental. .  .  .  All  art  involves  physical  organs — the  eye  and 
hand,  the  ear  and  voice;  and  yet  it  is  something  more 
than  the  mere  technical  skill  required  by  the  organs  of 
expression.  It  involves  an  idea,  a  thought,  a  spiritual 
rendering  of  things ;  and  yet  it  is  other  than  any  number  of 
ideas  by  themselves.    It  is  a  living  union  of  thought  and  the 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1902  by 
The  University  of  Chicago. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      37 

instrument  of  expression."     (John  Dewey,  The  School  and 
Society,  pp.  77-78.*) 

Science  and  occupations  are  also  organically  interrelated. 
*'The  history  of  culture  shows  that  mankind's  scientific 
knowledge  and  technical  abilities  have  developed,  especially 
in  all  their  earlier  stages,  out  of  the  fundamental  problems 
of  life.  Anatomy  and  physiology  grew  out  of  the  practical 
needs  of  keeping  healthy  and  active;  geometry  and  me- 
chanics out  of  demands  for  measuring  land,  for  building, 
and  for  making  labor-saving  machines ;  astronomy  has  been 
closely  connected  with  navigation,  keeping  record  of  the 
passage  of  time;  botany  grew  out  of  the  requirements  of 
medicine  and  agronomy ;  chemistry  has  been  associated  with 
dyeing,  metallurgy,  and  other  industrial  pursuits.  In  turn, 
modern  industry  is  almost  wholly  a  matter  of  applied 
science;  year  by  year  the  domain  of  routine  and  crude 
empiricism  is  narrowed  by  the  translation  of  scientific  dis- 
covery into  industrial  invention.  The  trolley,  the  telephone, 
the  electric  light,  the  steam  engine,  with  all  their  revolution- 
ary consequences  for  social  intercourse  and  control,  are  the 
fruits  of  science."  (John  Dewey,  How  We  Think,  pp.  167- 
168.)  Every  advance  in  industry  depends  upon  the  suc- 
cessful application  of  a  scientific  formula,  and  makes  clear 
new  needs,  giving  rise  to  new  scientific  discoveries.  The 
scientist  wrests  from  nature  the  secret  of  her  forces;  the 
artisan  utilizes  the  knowledge  thus  gained,  and  moulds  it 
into  forms  of  use  and  beauty  better  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  human  life.  Thus  related  science,  art,  and  industry  have 
become  a  fundamental  motive  force  of  social  advancement. 
**What  is  science?  We  are  too  apt  to  think  of  it  merely 
as  something  ponderous,  kept  in  equally  ponderous  books. 
But  it  is  much  truer  to  think  of  it  not  as  lifeless  printed 
material,  but  as  something  living  in  the  mind  and  influ- 
encing one's  work.  For  science  is  born  anew  in  the  delib- 
erate will  and  intention  of  each  of  us  when  we  succeed  in 
thinking  about  the  principles  of  our  work  in  a  clear,  logical, 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1900  by 
The  University  of  Chicago.  Copyright  1900  and  1915  by  John 
Dewey. 


88  THE  CHn.D  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

and  systematic  way,  and  courageously  put  our  conclusions 
to  the  test  of  experiment ;  and  the  so-called  sciences  are  the 
written  records  of  such  thinking,  only  more  extensive,  clear, 
systematic  and  consistent,  and  more  true  to  reality  because 
they  have  been  tested  by  countless  experiments  and  experi- 
ences in  the  race  ...  all  theory,  all  knowledge,  all  the  broad 
groups  of  sciences,  originally  sprang  from  the  experience 
gathered  by  man  from  one  or  other  of  his  numerous  occupa- 
tions. Thinking  has  arisen  from  doing ;  thought  from  action. 
Do  not  imagine  that  science  floats,  as  it  were,  in  the  clouds, 
serenely  isolated  from  the  hum  and  bustle  and  occupations 
of  the  busy  world,  and  developing  in  some  mysterious 
manner  of  its  own.  The  more  vividly  you  realize  this  great 
truth,  that  science  ultimately  sprang,  and  is  continually 
springing,  from  the  desires  and  efforts  of  men  to  increase 
their  skill  in  their  occupations  by  understanding  the 
eternal  principles  that  underlie  all  dealing  of  man  with 
Nature  and  of  man  with  his  fellow-men  (that  is,  the  manual 
and  mental  occupations,  industry,  trade,  the  professions, 
and  so  on),  the  more  vividly  will  you  see  the  deep 
importance  of  science  to  all  occupations.  You  will 
then  recognize  the  other  side  of  the  relation;  for 
every  action  there  is  always  a  reaction.  If  science 
ultimately  has  sprung  from,  and  is  continually  spring- 
ing anew  from,  occupations  science  has  repaid  the  debt 
both  by  rendering  those  who  follow  her  teaching  more 
skilled  in  their  occupations  and  by  actually  giving  rise  by 
her  discoveries  to  absolutely  new  types  of  occupations.  One 
of  the  great  conditions  of  human  progress  is  this  unceasing 
reciprocal  relationship  between  occupation  and  science,  each 
constantly  producing  and  being  produced  by  the  other.** 
(B.  Branford,  Science  and  Occupation,  London  Journal  of 
Education,  June,  1904,  p.  435.*) 

*By  permission  of  Mr.  B.  Branford  and  the  London  Journal  of 
Education  and  School  World.    Copyright  1906. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      S9 


READING 

Branford,  B. — Science  and  Occupation,  London  Journal  of 

Education,  June,  1904. 
Grosse,  E. — The  Beginnings  of  Arty  Appleton. 
Herbertson,  A.  J.  and  F.  D. — Man  and  His  Work,  Mae- 

millan. 

Chap.  IX.  Rise  of  the  Arts. 

The  Evolution  of  the  Scientific  Method  of  Thinking 

Because  of  his  peculiar  psychological  make-up,  man  was 
early  led  to  methods  of  investigation  and  experimentation 
in  order  to  solve  the  environmental  situation.  The  mental 
characteristic  which  distinguishes  man  from  the  lower  ani- 
mals is  his  ability  to  analyze  his  experience,  to  separate 
successful  elements  from  unsuccessful,  and  to  apply  the 
valuable  results  to  new  situations  as  they  arise.  An  animal 
has,  compared  with  man,  little  ability  to  profit  by  past 
experience,  little  ability  to  learn.  Even  primitive  man 
constantly  made  use  of  trial  by  experiment  and  reasoning 
by  analysis.  His  limitations  were  largely  due  to  the  fact 
that  through  the  narrow  range  of  his  experience  he  had 
few  facts  to  reckon  with.  He  early  began  reasoning  from 
his  observations  and  evolving  theories  of  the  nature  of 
things,  which,  though  crude,  were  intelligent  generalizations 
of  experience.  In  the  course  of  his  inquiries  he  not  only 
accumulated  valuable  stores  of  knowledge,  but  learned  more 
and  more  successful  and  economic  methods  of  obtaining  his 
facts  and  of  testing  their  validity.  Through  experience  he 
learned  how  to  learn.  Had  man  not  had  this  power,  knowl- 
edge would  have  been  nothing  more  than  a  memory  of  past 
incidents,  and  would  have  given  us  no  clue  to  the  solution 
of  present  problems,  or  power  to  predict  the  future.  The 
possibility  of  progress  under  such  conditions  is  highly 
problematical. 

The  earliest  use  of  experience  as  a  guide  to  action  was 
probably  not  very  conscious.  At  first  events  were  thought 
of  as  individual,  but  gradually  by  the  repeated  association 


40  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

of  certain  events  with  certain  others,  the  sequence  was  seen 
to  be  not  the  result  of  a  happy  chance,  but  was  observed  to 
be  constant.  Certain  results  were  seen  to  flow  inevitably 
from  certain  antecedent  conditions.  When  it  was  observed 
that  a  certain  order  of  events  had  been  uniform  in  the  past, 
it  was  natural  to  infer  that  they  would  remain  uniform  in 
the  future,  and  it  was  possible  to  regulate  his  conduct 
accordingly.  Thus  through  the  power  of  prediction  man 
was  able  to  adjust  his  actions  to  future  events,  to  meet  new 
situations  successfully,  and  continuity  in  conduct  was 
thereby  established.  This  technique  of  thinking  which  has 
been  gradually  refined  and  brought  under  control  by  man, 
finds  its  highest  expression  in  the  method  of  the  scientist. 
Scientific  method,  associated  as  it  is  in  our  minds  with 
a  particular  technique  of  thinking  achieved  only  by  special- 
ists under  unusual  circumstances,  working  with  peculiar 
apparatus,  is  thus  seen  to  be  not  different  in  kind,  but  only 
in  degree  from  the  thinking  of  the  ordinary  person.  Scien- 
tific thinking  is  not  synonymous  with  thinking  about  sci- 
ence; such  thinking  has  often  been  unscientific  enough. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  an  attitude  of  mind  and  a  skill  that 
may  be  employed  on  any  kind  of  subject-matter.  It  might 
be  looked  upon  as  thinking  that  has  become  unusually  con- 
scious of  itself  and  skilled  in  modes  of  arriving  at  conclu- 
sions. It  is  distinguished  from  ordinary  thinking  by  exact- 
ness and  by  exhaustiveness  of  treatment.  The  transition 
from  the  ordinary  to  the  scientific  attitude  of  mind  is  made 
when  one  ceases  to  take  things  for  granted  and  assumes 
instead  a  disposition  to  test  opinions  by  inquiring  into 
facts.  The  person  who,  through  a  process  of  comparing, 
inferring,  and  testing  sees  the  relationships  between  facts,  is 
using  scientific  method.  It  is  the  want  of  impersonal  judg- 
ment, and  of  the  accurate  assessment  of  evidence  which 
renders  clear  thinking  so  rare,  and  random  and  irrespon- 
sible judgments  so  common.  The  scientific  attitude  is  the 
dynamic  attitude;  it  regards  facts  as  hypotheses  to  be  dis- 
carded as  soon  as  further  experience  proves  them  to  be 
untenable.  It  is  only  by  this  process  that  man  has  been 
able  to  extend  his  control  over  the  forces  of  nature.    It  is 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      41 

only  through  the  process  of  continually  replacing  one  for- 
mula by  another  of  wider  significance  that  we  can  under- 
stand the  real  nature  of  the  universe.  The  field  of  science 
is  unlimited.  It  is  only  when  every  phenomena  has  been 
examined  and  classified  that  the  mission  of  science  will  be 
completed.  It  can  never  end  until  man  ceases  to  be,  until 
development  ceases. 

EEADING 

Dewey,  John. — Eow  We  TJiink,  Heath. 

Chap.         I.  What  is  Thought? 

Chap.    VI.  The  Analysis  of  a  Complete  Act  of 
Thought. 

Chap.     VII.  Systematic  Inference. 

Chap.  VIII.  Judgment. 

Chap.     IX.  Meaning. 

Chap.       X.  Concrete  and  Abstract  Thinking. 

Chap.     XI.  Empirical  and  Scientific  Thinking. 
Thomson,  J.  A. — An  Introduction  to  Science,  Holt. 

Chap.      III.  Scientific  Method. 

The  Evolution  of  Knowledge 

The  fundamental  sources  of  movement  in  society  are  to 
be  discovered  in  the  primary  needs  of  mankind.  They 
initiate  the  adjustments  to  be  made  between  man  and 
nature.  Primitive  man,  in  common  with  all  other  living 
organisms,  was  continually  forced  into  vital  relations  with 
his  physical  environment,  and  such  was  the  characteristic 
of  his  responses  to  the  situations  that  arose  that,  from  the 
first,  he  made  attempts  to  modify  and  utilize  the  materials 
and  forces  of  nature  for  the  maintenance  of  his  life 
processes.  He  also  began  to  ponder  over  the  significance  of 
his  experiences.  Through  his  attempts  to  understand  his 
experience  and  to  find  out  what  forces  have  made  the  world 
of  experience  what  it  is,  he  gradually  accumulated  a  stock 
of  useful  information  about  the  world  in  which  he  lived. 
The  occupations  on  which  he  was  dependent  for  life  stim- 
ulated his  quest  of  knowledge  of  nature,  and  each  advance 


42  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

in  occupation  yielded  something  to  his  general  store  of 
information.  From  personal  experience  he  soon  grew  to 
have  quite  a  respectable  fund  of  common-sense,  everyday 
knowledge.  ''He  had  gained  this  knowledge  under  the 
impulse  of  his  need  of  food,  protection,  shelter,  and  clothing. 
He  was  familiar  with  the  habits  of  all  the  wild  animals  of 
his  locality,  and  with  most  of  the  useful  and  poisonous 
plants.  He  was  familiar  with  the  topography  of  the  various 
regions  in  which  he  lived  and  with  the  special  advantages 
afforded  by  each.  He  knew  the  signs  of  the  weather  and 
the  relation  of  the  changing  position  of  some  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies  to  coming  changes  in  his  own  activities.  He  had 
learned  the  limitations  and  the  possibilities  of  the  raw 
materials  with  which  he  worked,  how  to  select  the  best 
materials  for  his  weapons,  implements,  and  utensils,  and 
how  to  manufacture  and  manipulate  the  same.'*  (K.  E. 
Dopp,  TJie  Place  of  Industries  in  Education,  pp.  30-31.) 
Man  at  even  this  early  stage  had  made  some  prog- 
ress in  the  arts  and  sciences.  "In  a  rude  way  he  was  a 
physicist  in  making  a  fire,  a  chemist  in  cooking,  a  surgeon 
in  binding  wounds,  a  geographer  in  knowing  his  rivers  and 
mountains,  a  mathematician  in  counting  on  his  fingers.'* 
However,  the  vast  complex  of  physical  phenomena  by  which 
he  was  surrounded,  the  evidences  of  power  in  the  universe, 
still  impressed  him  with  wonder  and  terror.  On  the 
fringes  of  his  matter-of-fact  knowledge  there  gathered  a 
rich  cosmological  lore,  highly  dramatic  in  character,  in  the 
form  of  myth  or  legend,  in  which  the  various  forces  of 
nature  as  yet  unaccounted  for  in  work-a-day  experience 
were  personified.  Many  of  the  primitive  rites  and  ceremonies 
have  to  do  with  this  mythical  belief,  in  which  thank  offer- 
ings were  made  to  spirits  that  were  benign,  and  sacrifices 
to  those  that  were  hostile.  These  are  the  two  original 
springs  from  which  the  stream  of  knowledge  has  flowed 
through  the  centuries. 

The  possession  of  articulate  language  by  human  beings  is 
supremely  important,  enabling  the  knowledge  of  each 
individual  to  become  the  property  of  the  community. 
Without  a  ready  means  of  communication  the  myriad  units 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      43 

who  perform  their  individual  tasks  would  be  unable  to 
coordinate  their  experiences  for  the  common  good,  and  what 
was  discovered  by  one  generation  could  not  be  handed  on 
to  the  next.  Knowledge  gained  by  oral  language  is  re- 
stricted and  unreliable;  where  it  alone  is  achieved  by  a 
social  group  its  transmission  is  dependent  upon  personal 
communication  and  the  validity  of  memory.  When  with 
the  invention  of  written  symbols,  oral  tradition  gave  way 
to  written  records,  "the  funded  capital  of  civilization'* 
accumulated  at  a  much  greater  rate,  and  its  transmission 
to  the  next  generation  was  the  more  adequately  secured. 
This  possibility  of  a  gradually  accumulating  store  of  knowl- 
edge by  which  the  experiences  of  one  generation  may  be 
contributed  to  the  next  is  a  condition  fundamental  to  social 
evolution.  It  constitutes  one  of  the  essential  superiorities 
of  man  over  every  other  animal  species.  The  knowledge 
possessed  by  other  animals  is  instinctive,  it  is  not  gained 
through  personal  experience,  and  it  does  not  progress  from 
age  to  age.  Man  is  the  only  animal  with  a  social  tradition. 
Except  for  the  transmission  of  knowledge,  the  work  of  the 
past  would  have  had  to  be  done  anew  by  each  generation, 
and  man  could  not  have  progressed  far  beyond  the  satisfac- 
tion of  his  elemental  needs.  The  stage  of  savagery,  there- 
fore, would  have  been  his  permanent  social  status. 

For  a  long  time  the  knowledge  gained  by  early  man 
remained  a  chaotic  mass  of  isolated  facts,  gained  as  the 
result  of  many  separate  experiences  with  the  apparently 
discrete  phenomena  of  nature,  and  without  apparent  order 
or  connection.  Gradually,  however,  with  increasing  experi- 
ence, and  his  ability  to  analyze  his  experiences,  to  note 
similarities  and  differences,  man  was  able  to  make  certain 
deductions  as  appropriate  explanations  of  his  experiences, 
and  this  mass  of  information,  formerly  haphazard  and 
chaotic,  gradually  assumed  a  primitive  kind  of  organiza- 
tion. Particular  concrete  phenomena  were  seen  to  be  part 
of  a  great  orderly  relationship.  Similar  facts  were  related 
into  a  general  category ;  dissimilar  facts  were  separated  and 
combined  with  those  with  which  they  were  related.  In  the 
evolution  of  knowledge  we  see  the  continuous  struggle  of 


44  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

the  human  mind  to  reach  a  more  comprehensive  and  exact 
formulation  of  experiences.  By  more  and  more  methodical 
examination  and  systematic  inquiry  into  the  character- 
istics of  phenomena,  common  sense  and  empirical  knowl- 
edge have  gradually  given  way  to  purposeful  investigation 
in  which  facts  have  been  condensed  into  general  laws  and 
the  whole  organized  according  to  the  best  knowledge  of  the 
time.  Men  study  a  range  of  facts,  they  classify  and  ana- 
lyze, they  discover  relationships  and  sequences  and  then 
they  describe  in  the  simplest  formula  possible  the  widest 
range  of  related  phenomena.  It  is  in  this  way,  by  a  process 
of  accretion  and  elimination  that  the  body  of  verified 
knowledge  which  the  human  race  has  accumulated  in  its 
long  history  has  been  slowly  and  gradually  built  up  out  of 
experience  and  organized  according  to  prevailing  ideas. 
The  outer  margins  of  knowledge  at  any  given  time  are  thus 
seen  to  be  the  scientific  knowledge  of  the  time.  As  knowl- 
edge has  accumulated,  the  frontiers  of  tested  knowledge 
have  been  steadily  extended  through  the  addition  of  new 
truths  around  their  natural  centers  of  attraction.  Every 
generalization  has  been  replaced  by  a  broader  hypothesis. 
On  the  fringes  of  this  body  of  knowledge  has  always  dwelt 
a  mixture  of  truth  and  speculation — dogmas,  myths,  super- 
stitions— all  those  forms  of  belief  which  have  not  yet  been 
subjected  to  verification  in  experience,  but  which  none  the 
less  exert  a  potent  influence  on  the  minds  of  the  people. 
Each  successive  century  has  put  under  inquiry  such  matters 
as  lay  within  the  range  of  its  particular  interests,  and  has 
modified  the  classifications  of  the  preceding  age.  The  con- 
tent of  science  has  thus  continuously  increased  with  every 
increase  in  man's  positive  knowledge,  and  the  amount  of 
unverified  knowledge  has  been  steadily  reduced.  If  we 
survey  the  whole  gamut  of  knowledge  we  realize  that  there 
is  implicit  in  every  subject  a  possible  science  of  the  subject, 
which  consists  of  the  organized  principles  of  the  field  of 
knowledge  represented  by  that  subject,  the  body  of  laws 
and  principles  which  govern  that  particular  set  of  facts. 
By  the  evolution  of  knowledge  from  its  primitive  form  to 
its  final  form  in  the  sciences,  the  world  of  experience  is  seen 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      45 

to  be  governed  by  universal  laws,  and  what  was  originally 
thought  by  primitive  man  to  be  a  chaos,  is  now  found  to  be 
a  cosmos. 

This,  then,  is  the  general  nature  of  the  process  by  which 
knowledge  has  been  accumulated  by  the  human  race.  The 
important  fact  to  remember  is  that  it  is  the  outcome  of  the 
workings  of  the  human  mind  upon  the  problems  funda- 
mental to  sustaining  life.  Humanity  has  not  accumulated 
all  this  vast  mass  of  communicable  experience  which  we 
call  science,  without  the  constant  and  powerful  stimulus  of 
needing  that  knowledge,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  for 
the  more  efficient  pursuit  of  various  occupations, 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 

Chap.  XXV.  Theories  of  Knowledge. 
Dewey,  John. — Article  on  Knowledge,  Cyclopedia  of  Edu- 
cation.   Macmillan. 
Ellwood,  C.  a. — An  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology, 
Appleton. 

Chap.  VI.  The  Nature  of  Social  Continuity. 
Pearson,  K. — The  Grammar  of  Science,  Scott,  London. 

Chap.  I.  Introductory — The   Scope   and   Method 
of  Science. 
Thomson,  J.  A. — Introduction  to  Science,  Holt. 
Tylor,  E.  B. — Anthropology,  Appleton. 
Chap,  XIII.  Science. 

The  Evolution  of  Organs  of  Social  Regulation 

The  life  of  man  in  society,  like  that  of  other  organic 
species,  is  a  struggle  for  existence,  but  it  differs  from  that 
of  animal  societies  in  being  a  psychical  process  in  which 
man  consciously  aims  to  produce  social  structures,  by  means 
of  which  the  benefits  of  association  may  be  the  more 
effectively  realized.  Society  carries  on  its  life  under  the 
influence  of  psychical  forces  brought  about  by  the  interac- 
tion of  minds.  In  a  group  of  relatively  free  individuals 
with  a  ready  means  of  communication,  there  is  a  free  and 


46  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

rapid  interchange  of  psychical  impulses.  In  the  give  and 
take  of  social  life  mental  states  are  modified.  Participation 
in  common  experiences  tends  to  produce  identical  feelings 
and  closely  resembling  ideas.  The  social  process  is  there- 
fore a  process  of  assimilation,  a  process  of  integrating  the 
ideas  and  attitudes  of  the  members  of  a  group  into  an 
organic  whole.  The  cultural  scheme  of  a  community  is  a 
composite  of  the  thoughts  and  beliefs  of  the  constituents, 
and  is  represented  by  its  institutions.  Solutions  to  prob- 
lems worked  out  by  one  generation  are  preserved  for  the 
benefit  of  the  next  by  means  of  institutions.  They  become 
the  channels  by  which  the  accumulated  experience  of  gen- 
erations is  continuously  passed  on,  thus  giving  continuity  to 
society  and  preserving  racial  achievements.  Institutions 
by  their  very  nature,  however,  tend  to  remain  fixed;  they 
are  the  products  of  past  circumstances,  while  society  lives 
in  a  rapidly  changing  environment  produced  by  a  multi- 
tude of  factors  interacting  upon  one  another.  Hence  no  set 
of  institutions  entirely  applies  to  a  present  situation;  they 
are  in  need  of  constant  modification.  Social  progress  comes 
about  through  successive  changes  in  the  social  tradition  as 
represented  by  institutions,  but  these  changes  do  not  occur 
until  the  need  of  change  is  felt  by  a  sufficient  number  of  the 
'■'members  of  a  community.  "When  this  point  is  reached  there 
is  a  revaluation  and  revision  of  the  traditional  rules  govern- 
ing social  relationships.  Now  the  two  great  sources  of 
influence  upon  the  minds  of  the  members  of  a  community 
motivating  social  action,  are  the  point  of  view  arrived  at  as 
the  result  of  present  experience  with  the  environmental 
situation,  and  that  which  comes  from  the  accumulated  ex- 
periences of  past  generations  as  handed  down  by  institu- 
tions. The  various  constituents  of  a  community  are  affected 
in  different  proportions  by  these  two  great  classes  of  influ- 
ence. The  portion  of  the  community  most  exposed  by 
economic  causes  to  the  pressure  of  changes  in  the  environ- 
ment seek  to  make  changes  in  institutions  to  better  their 
condition;  any  portion  of  the  community  habitually  re- 
lieved from  economic  pressure  so  that  it  does  not  personally 
experience  the  effects  of  changes  in  the  environment   wiU 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      47 

not  so  quickly  see  the  necessity  for  changes  in  institutions. 
They  become  the  conservative  class,  traditionally  minded, 
which  acts  as  a  check  upon  social  transformation.  Between 
these  two  extremes  lie  all  possible  gradations. 

Social  progress  is  thus  seen  to  be  an  evolutionary  process, 
but  it  IS  a  process  in  which  the  intelligence  and  will  of  men 
must  enter.  Progress  cannot  be  taken  for  granted;  it  is 
the  result  of  forethought,  of  the  conscious  regulation  of 
social  affairs.  Since  society  in  the  past  has  not  been  par- 
ticularly conscious  of  its  own  processes,  social  regulation 
has  followed  a  more  or  less  blind  haphazard  course  in  which 
inertia  has  played  an  important  part.  Discrepancies  be- 
tween economic  demands  and  the  means  of  meeting  them 
have  been  allowed  to  increase  until  serious  maladjustments 
have  resulted,  and  a  more  adequate  social  organization  has 
been  secured  only  after  violent  social  upheavals.  Although 
living  within  an  association,  few  people  have  comprehended 
its  nature,  and  as  a  result  society  has  been  overtaken  by 
changes;  it  has  not  understood  the  means  by  which  social 
changes  might  be  consciously  guided.  It  is  evident  that  for 
the  proper  development  of  social  adaptation,  some  form  of 
social  technique  must  be  worked  out  by  means  of  which 
institutions  can  convey  to  each  generation  the  benefits  of 
past  experience,  and  yet  remain  flexible  instruments  com- 
petent to  shape  progress.  This  state  of  affairs  can  be 
brought  about  only  when  the  scientific  attitude  is  assumed 
in  relation  to  the  problems  of  society.  To  look  ahead,  to 
modify  the  present  with  reference  to  the  future,  is  a  pre- 
requisite of  an  intelligently  progressive  society.  It  is  only 
when  social  life  reaches  the  point  where  it  consciously  con- 
trols the  conditions  of  its  life  that  rational  social  advance- 
ment is  assured. 

READING 

Elwood,  C.  a. — Introduction  to  Social  Psychology,  Apple- 
ton. 

Chap.    VII.  Social  Change  under  Normal  Condi- 
tions. 


48  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Chap.  VIII.  Social  Change  under  Abnormal  Con- 
ditions. 

Chap.   XII.  Social  Order. 
Veblen,  T. — The  Theory  of  the  Leisure  ClasSy  Huebsch. 

Chap.  VIII.  Industrial  Exemption  and  Conserv- 
atism. 

The  Present  Social  Situation 

The  story  of  civilization  is  the  story  of  social  relation- 
ships; it  is  the  story  of  man's  efforts  to  create  more  and 
more  effective  forms  of  group  life,  and  to  establish  agencies 
by  means  of  which  social  adaptation  may  the  more  effec- 
tually operate.  During  the  last  century  the  cumulative 
effect  of  the  principal  forces  that  have  been  moulding  the 
modern  world  have  found  expression  in  three  inter-related 
forms:  science,  industry,  and  democracy. 

The  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  periods  of  great 
scientific  activity.  As  a  result  of  the  vast  increase  in 
scientific  knowledge  and  its  application  to  industry,  making 
it  possible  to  utilize  natural  forces  for  large  scale  pro- 
duction, a  new  industrial  era  has  been  inaugurated. 
Through  the  centralization  of  capital,  the  unit  of  produc- 
tion has  been  changed  from  the  family  to  a  compact  unit 
of  hundreds  of  workers,  brought  together  in  an  especially 
adapted  establishment,  provided  with  the  most  extensive 
mechanical  equipment.  The  process  of  production  is  ana- 
lyzed and  subdivided  into  the  greatest  possible  number  of 
parts,  and  workmen  of  varying  ability  are  set  to  work  on  the 
different  parts  simultaneously.  This  plan  of  combining 
workers  effects  an  enormous  increase  in  the  output  over  that 
which  could  be  produced  by  the  same  number  of  independ- 
ent workers,  since  each  worker,  confined  entirely  to  one  job, 
develops  great  skill  and  dexterity  in  it.  As  a  result  we 
have  developed  in  factory  production  a  highly  specialized 
routine  labor  adjusted  to  machinery.  The  complexity  of 
the  processes  has  necessitated  the  closest  study  of  technical 
problems  and  of  conditions  making  for  economy  and  effi- 
ciency of  production. 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION    49 

The  very  perfection  of  tlie  mechanism  of  production  now 
threatens,  however,  to  become  a  menace,  since  it  disregards 
the  human  factor  involved.  Machines  were  invented  as  a 
means  whereby  human  beings  might  the  more  effectively 
satisfy  their  needs.  In  modern  machine  production  the 
relation  of  means  to  ends  in  the  relation  of  the  workman  to 
his  machine  has  been  entirely  reversed.  Instead  of  the 
worker  using  his  machine  for  the  realization  of  his  own 
purposes,  the  machine  now  completely  dominates  the 
operator,  tending  to  make  of  him  a  mere  appendage  which 
the  ingenuity  of  an  inventor  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  devis- 
ing. *'The  logical  development  of  factory  organization  has 
been  the  complete  coordination  of  ^  all  factors  which  are 
auxiliary  to  mechanical  power  and  devices.  The  most  im- 
portant auxiliary  factor  is  human  labor.  A  worker  is  a  per- 
fected factory  attachment  as  he  surrenders  himself  to  the 
time  and  the  rhythm  of  the  machine  and  its  functioning ;  as 
he  supplements  without  loss  whatever  human  faculties  the 
machine  lacks,  whatever  imperfection  hampers  the  ma- 
chine in  the  satisfaction  of  its  needs.  If  it  lacks  eyes,  he 
sees  for  it;  he  walks  for  it,  if  it  is  without  legs;  and  he 
pulls,  drags,  lifts,  if  it  needs  arms.  All  of  these  things 
are  done  by  the  factory  worker  at  the  pace  set  by  the 
machine  and  under  its  direction  and  command.  A  worker's 
indulgence  in  his  personal  desires  or  impulses  hinders  the 
machine  and  lowers  his  attachment  value.  This  division  of 
the  workers  into  eyes,  arms,  fingers,  legs,  the  plucking  out 
of  some  one  of  his  faculties  and  discarding  the  rest  of  the 
man  as  valueless  has  seemed  to  be  an  organic  requirement 
of  machine  evolution."  (H.  Marot,  Creative  Impulse  in 
Industry,  pp.  4^5.*)  The  discovery  through  scientific 
management  that  the  principles  of  efficiency  which  were 
formerly  thought  applicable  only  to  the  mechanical  phases 
of  production  might  likewise  be  employed  to  regulate  the 
energy  supplied  by  the  worker,  has  been  the  last  link  in  the 
chain  firmly  riveting  the  operator  to  his  machine.  The 
whole  motive  force  to  activity  is  now  seen  to  have  passed 
from  human  beings  into  machinery.    The  complete  prostra- 

*By  permission  E.  P.  Button  &  Co.    Copyright  1918. 


50  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

tion  of  the  instinct  of  workmanship  under  these  circum- 
stances is  inevitable. 

The  demands  of  labor  unions  are  symptomatic.  Human 
beings  resist  being  made  into  machines,  and  the  constant 
demand  for  shorter  hours  indicates  the  desire  of  the  workers 
to  escape  from  work  which  is  disintegrating  to  personality. 
The  workmen  have  combined  against  the  employer  to  gain 
the  freedom  which  they  see  steadily  being  taken  away  from 
them.  Since  they  think  themselves  the  inevitable  victims  of 
a  machine  age,  their  only  chance  for  individual  develop- 
ment seems  to  lie  outside  of  their  work.  It  has  been  found 
in  innumerable  instances,  however,  that  increase  in  wages 
and  the  shortening  of  hours  in  no  way  solves  the  problem. 
The  difficulty  is  far  more  fundamental  in  character.  In  the 
process  of  industrial  evolution  the  factor  which  in  the  past 
has  made  of  industry  a  great  liberating  force  for  the  release 
of  human  values,  has  been  cut  off  from  it.  Until  we  can  in 
some  way  restore  this  factor  so  that  it  is  again  made 
tributary  to  industry,  we  can  never  hope  for  a  solution  to 
this  great  social  problem.  The  present  industrial  organiza- 
tion does  not  offer  to  the  worker  the  motive  for  work.  What 
is  the  motive  to  industry?  How  far  are  the  motives  upon 
which  industry  has  advanced  in  the  past  still  operative? 
These  are  the  fundamental  questions  which  must  be 
answered. 

The  great  advances  in  industry  have  been  made  through 
the  application  of  scientific  inventions  to  mechanical 
processes.  In  the  modem  system  of  production  with  its 
rigid  application  of  the  principle  of  division  of  labor, 
science  and  industry  have  become  divorced.  Specialists  in 
laboratories  work  out  the  needed  formulas.  These  pass 
through  several  departments  and  finally  reach  their  appli- 
cation in  the  joint  output  of  the  workers.  The  present 
regime  shuts  off  inquiry  on  the  part  of  the  workman  into 
the  processes  upon  which  he  is  engaged.  He  has  no  oppor- 
tunity to  accumulate  valuable  experiences  from  his  labor 
and  becomes  a  mere  automaton  in  the  performance  of  the 
day's  work.  As  a  result  his  work  has  no  meaning  to  him; 
he  sees  in  it  no  relation  to  his  own  needs  and  purposes.    No 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      51 

satisfactory  solution  can  be  found  to  the  industrial  problem 
until  the  union  of  science  and  industry  is  again  made 
operative  in  the  personality  of  the  artisan.  We  must 
restore  to  the  workers  a  consciousness  of  the  scientific  im- 
plications of  the  processes  upon  which  they  are  engaged. 
The  laws  of  the  physical  sciences  are  statements  of  certain 
combinations  of  conditions.  Scientific  application  consists 
in  the  creation  by  means  of  human  invention  of  a  set  of 
conditions  which  do  not  occur  simultaneously  in  nature. 
Efficient  production  will  result  only  when  the  workers  are 
made  participators  in  the  creation  of  new  conditions  that 
make  possible  new  applications  of  science.  It  is  only  when 
the  worker  is  allowed  to  become  a  conscious  director  of 
the  natural  forces  with  which  he  is  dealing  that  the  will 
to  work  is  fostered;  any  other  environment  offers  no  in- 
centive to  increased  effort.  If  through  giving  the  oppor- 
tunity to  the  workers  for  personal  initiative  in  investigation 
and  experimentation,  the  scientific  values  can  be  restored 
to  industry,  it  will  again  resume  its  place  as  a  fundamental 
motive  force  for  the  advancement  of  the  human  race.  The 
question  is  how  to  bring  about  the  necessary  changes  in 
the  present  complex  state  of  the  industrial  arts.  The  prob- 
lem for  those  engaged  in  the  conduct  of  industry  consists 
in  creating  conditions  by  means  of  which  this  ideal  may 
become  effective  in  operation;  the  problem  for  those  con- 
cerned with  education  consists  in  forwarding  a  type  of 
education  which,  among  other  things,  will  develop  a  funda- 
mental concept  of  industry  in  its  relation  to  the  advance- 
ment of  social  life.  In  other  words,  we  must  introduce 
education  into  industry,  and  industry  into  education. 

The  advance  of  science  and  industry  during  the  last 
century  has  been  accompanied  politically  by  an  advance 
in  democratic  control.  The  spread  of  democratic  ideals 
and  institutions,  the  dominant  feature  of  contemporary 
life,  is  not  a  characteristic  isolated  from  its  scientific  and 
industrial  tendencies  but  rather  a  recognition  of  their  social 
significance.  Democracy  signifies  a  flexible  form  of  social 
organization  resting  upon  the  will  of  the  mass  of  the  people 
and  responsive  to  changes  in  their  purposes.     Political 


52  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

democracy  dependent  as  it  is  upon  a  free  movement  of  ex- 
periences and  ideas  can  be  nothing  more  than  a  mere  term 
unless  the  people  composing  it  are  accustomed  to  a  type  of 
life-developing  power  related  to  responsibility.  Since  the 
modern  world  is  an  industrial  world,  it  must  remain  a  huge 
mechanism  leaving  the  major  portion  of  life  unemancipated, 
unless  industry  is  animated  by  the  social  spirit  implicit  in 
the  democratic  ideal.  Beneath  the  mutual  distrust  of 
employer  and  workers  lies  a  great  fundamental  problem  as 
yet  unsolved.  The  wage  system  is  a  system  of  industrial 
serfdom.  Production  is  not  for  use  but  for  profit.  The 
worker  sells  his  labor  for  a  fixed  price ;  he  has  no  rights  in 
the  product,  he  has  no  control  over  the  conditions  under 
which  he  works.  It  is  evident  that  some  form  of  reorganiza- 
tion is  imperative  for  social  welfare.  As  has  been  truly  said 
in  another  connection,  a  nation  cannot  exist  half  slave  and 
half  free.  We  cannot  expect  the  type  of  mind  that  has 
become  inured  to  the  benumbing  effects  of  automatic  labor 
for  several  hours  each  day,  to  express  itself  in  its  hours  of 
release  in  any  useful  or  satisfying  form. 

It  is  impossible  to  retrace  the  steps  of  evolution  and 
return  to  an  earlier,  simpler,  industrial  regime  in  which  the 
workman  is  his  own  master.  "We  must  find  new  values  in 
the  present  industrial  techniques.  The  only  way  that  whole- 
some emotional  reflexes  can  be  restored  to  industry  as  it  is 
now  constituted  is  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities 
resident  in  it  for  associated  effort.  The  workers'  sense  of 
personal  use  must  give  way  to  a  conception  of  social  use.  * '  It 
happens  that  in  machine  production  and  in  the  division  of 
labor  there  are  emotional  and  intellectual  possibilities  which 
were  non-existent  in  the  earlier  and  simpler  methods  of  pro- 
duction. As  power  latent  in  inorganic  matter  has  been  freed 
and  applied  to  common  needs,  an  environment  has  been 
evolved,  filled  with  situations  incomparably  more  dramatic 
than  the  provincial  affairs  of  detached  people  and  communi- 
ties. Although  this  technological  subject  matter,  rich  in  op- 
portunities for  associated  adventure  and  infinite  discovery,  is 
not  a  part  of  common  experience,  it  exists,  and  if  called  out 
from  its  isolation  for  purposes  of  common  experimentation, 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION      53 

it  is  fit  matter  for  making  science  a  vital  experience  in  the 
productive  life  of  the  worker.  .  .  .  The  present  is  better 
than  any  time  earlier  in  the  history  of  technology  for  the 
development  of  a  concept  of  industry  as  a  socially  creative 
enterprise.  ...  In  the  labyrinth  of  mechanical  processes 
and  economic  calculation  it  is  not  to-day  possible  for  a 
worker  to  think  or  speak  of  a  product  as  his.  ...  A 
worker's  claim  to  the  product  of  his  labor  is  merged  in  an 
infinity  of  claims  which  makes  the  product  more  nearly  the 
property  of  society  than  that  of  any  one  individual.  And 
this  merging  of  claims  which  has  resulted  in  the  submerging 
of  all  wage  workers,  has  set  up  the  new  educational  task  of 
discovering  the  possibilities  for  creative  experience  in  asso- 
ciated enterprise. 

''While  an  article  manufactured  under  business  condi- 
tions is  the  product  of  enforced  association,  we  have  in  this 
condition  the  mechanics  of  a  real  association.  As  it  now 
stands,  the  association  is  one  of  individuals,  with  the  im- 
pulse for  association  and  for  creative  elffiort  left  out.  The 
interests  of  some  ninety  workers  associated  together  in  the 
making  of  a  shoe  are  not  common  but  antagonistic,  except 
as  they  are  common  in  their  antagonism  to  the  owner  of  the 
shoe  on  which  they  work.  They  hang  together  because  they 
must ;  their  parting  is  the  best  part  of  a  working  day. 

*'And  yet  the  practice  of  dividing  up  the  fabrication  of 
an  article  among  the  members  of  a  group  instead  of  con- 
fining the  making  of  it  to  one  or  two  people,  opens  up  the 
possibility  of  extensive  social  intercourse,  and  has  the 
power,  we  may  discover,  to  sublimate  the  inordinate  desire 
for  the  intensive  satisfaction  of  personal  life.  Although 
the  division  of  labor  has  given  us  a  society  which  is  abortive 
in  its  functioning  like  a  machine  with  half  assembled  parts, 
it  offers  us  the  mechanics  for  interdependence  and  the 
opportunity  to  work  out  a  coordinated  industrial  life." 
(H.  Marot,  Creative  Impulse  in  Industry,  pp.  25-28.*) 

The  needed  vivifying  influence,  capable  of  converting  this 
sterile  division  of  labor  into  a  type  tributary  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  social  life  is  the  democratic  control  of  indus- 

*By  permission  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.    Copyright  1918. 


54  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

try.  The  cooperative  system  in  which  the  workmen  are 
responsible  for  the  success  or  failure  of  their  enterprise 
aims  to  restore  the  motive  of  personal  interest  to  large  scale 
production.  Intrinsic  interest  in  work  which  must  often  be 
lacking  in  machine  production  is  supplemented  by  the 
stimulus  to  good  workmanship  coming  through  the  sense 
of  responsibility  and  cooperation.  Machinery  becomes  to 
the  worker  a  means  to  an  end  and  is  thereby  invested  with 
social  value. 

READING 

Cole,  G.  D.  H. — Lai  our  in  the  CommonwealtJi,  Huebsch. 

Dewey,  John. — The  Need  of  Industrial  Education  in  an 
Industrial  Democracy,  Manual  Training  Magazine, 
February,  1916. 

Marot,  Helen. — The  Creative  Impulse  in  Industry,  Dutton. 

Parker,  Carlton. — The  Technique  of  American  Industry, 
Atlantic  Monthly,  January,  1920. 

Wallace,  A.  R. — The  Wonderfid  Century,  Dodd  Mead. 

Wolf,  R.  E. — The  Creative  Workman,  The  Technical  Asso- 
ciation of  the  Pulp  and  Paper  Industry,  117  East  24th 
St.,  N.  Y. 

Wolf,  R.  E. — Making  Men  Like  Their  Jobs,  System,  Jan- 
uary and  February,  1919. 

Wolf,  R.  E. — Control  and  Consent,  Bulletin  of  the  Taylor 
Society,  March,  1917. 


PART   II 
THE    EDUCATIVE    PROCESS 

The  Function  of  Education 

We  have  seen  that,  as  a  result  of  the  superior  type  of  his 
responses  to  the  environmental  situation,  man  has  evolved 
a  highly  complex  social  world  of  customs,  traditions,  insti- 
tutions and  the  like,  which  represent  his  ideas  and  beliefs. 
This  accumulated  experience  of  countless  generations  must 
be  continuously  passed  on  to  the  new  members  of  society 
who  are  taking  the  places  of  those  who  die,  if  social  progress 
is  to  continue  unbroken.  We  have  seen  that  whereas  among 
the  lower  animals  almost  all  the  characteristics  necessary 
for  existence  are  directly  inherited  from  the  parents,  man 
inherits  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  powers  he  requires 
to  carry  on  his  life.  "Every  child  is  born  destitute  of 
things  possessed  in  manhood  which  distinguish  him  from 
the  lower  animals.  Of  all  industries  he  is  artless;  of  all 
institutions  he  is  lawless ;  of  all  languages  he  is  speechless ; 
of  all  philosophies  he  is  opinionless;  of  all  reasoning  he  is 
thoughtless;  but  arts,  institutions,  language,  opinions  and 
mentations  he  acquires  as  the  years  go  by  from  childhood 
to  manhood.  In  all  these  respects  the  new-born  babe  is 
hardly  the  peer  of  the  new-born  beast ;  but  as  the  years  pass, 
ever  and  ever  he  exhibits  his  superiority  in  all  these  great 
classes  of  activities,  until  the  distance  by  which  he  is  sep- 
arated from  the  brute  is  so  great  that  his  realm  of  existence 
is  in  another  kingdom  of  nature.''  (J.  W.  Powell,  From 
Barbarian  to  Civilization,  American  Anthropologist,  1888, 
p.  97.)  In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  the  child  born  igno- 
rant, helpless,  dependent,  must  be  adjusted  to  a  rich,  com- 
plex, and  constantly  changing  environment.  Each  genera- 
tion must  take  over  into  their  lives  all  the  fundamental 

65 


56  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

values  of  civilization  which  it  has  required  thousands  of 
years  to  achieve.  "Years,  centuries,  generations  of  inven- 
tion and  planning,  may  have  gone  to  the  development  of 
the  performances  and  occupations  surrounding  the  child. 
Yet  for  him  their  activities  are  direct  stimuli;  they  are 
part  of  his  natural  environment.  .  .  .  He  cannot,  of  course, 
appropriate  their  meaning  directly  through  his  senses ;  but 
they  furnish  stimuli  to  which  he  responds,  so  that  his  atten- 
tion is  focussed  upon  a  higher  order  of  materials  and  of 
problems.  Were  it  not  for  this  process  by  which  the 
achievements  of  one  generation  form  the  stimuli  that  direct 
the  activities  of  the  next,  the  story  of  civilization  would  be 
writ  in  water,  and  each  generation  would  have  laboriously 
to  make  for  itself,  if  it  could,  its  way  out  of  savagery." 
(John  Dewey,  How  We  Think,  pp.  159-160.)  This  defines 
the  high  task  of  education ;  it  is  evident  that  the  ultimate 
reliance  of  all  social  reconstruction  must  be  upon  education. 
Society  has  always  had  a  realization  of  this  fact  from 
primitive  times  to  the  present.  In  earlier,  simpler  societies 
the  young  were  inducted  into  the  collective  knowledge  of 
the  community  principally  by  direct  participation  in  the 
life  about  them;  but  as  time  went  on  and  knowledge  in- 
creased greatly  in  amount,  a  special  institution  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  work.  The  aim  of  education  in  each  generation 
has  been  to  enable  the  children  to  reach  the  highest  point 
previously  reached  by  the  race.  It  seemed  evident,  there- 
fore, that  the  school  must  effect  certain  short  cuts.  The 
realization  of  this  necessity  together  with  a  faulty  knowl- 
edge of  psychology  has  been  responsible  for  the  highly 
abstract  form  of  school  instruction.  "There  is  a  strong 
temptation  to  assume  that  presenting  subject  matter  in  its 
perfected  form  provides  a  royal  road  to  learning.  What 
more  natural  than  to  suppose  that  the  immature  can  be 
saved  time  and  energy,  and  be  protected  from  needless 
error  by  commencing  where  competent  inquirers  have  left 
off?"  (John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  257.) 
Therefore  the  curriculum  is  worked  out  in  detail,  so  much 
of  each  subject  for  each  year,  and  the  whole  work  of  the 
school  made  to  revolve  about  this  fixed  scheme.    "Subdivide 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  57 

each  topic  into  studies ;  each  study  into  lessons ;  each  lesson 
into  specific  facts  and  formulae.  Let  the  child  proceed  step 
by  step  to  master  each  one  of  the  separate  parts,  and  at 
last  he  will  have  covered  the  entire  ground.  The  road 
which  looked  so  long  when  viewed  in  its  entirety,  is  easily 
traveled,  considered  as  a  series  of  particular  steps.  Thus 
emphasis  is  put  upon  the  logical  sub-divisions  and  consecu- 
tions of  the  subject-matter.  Problems  of  instruction  are 
problems  of  procuring  texts  giving  logical  parts  and 
sequences,  and  of  presenting  those  portions  in  class  in  a 
similar,  definite,  and  graded  way.  Subject-matter  furnishes 
the  end,  and  it  determines  method."  (John  Dewey,  The 
Child  and  the  Curriculumy  pp.  12-13.) 

This  mode  of  procedure,  however  effective  it  may  be  when 
the  subject  matter  is  regarded  externally  by  itself,  neglects 
the  essential  factor  of  the  human  being's  peculiar  method 
of  assimilating  subject  matter.  It  is  impossible  for  the 
school  to  make  the  short  cut  of  verbally  inducting  the  child 
into  generalizations.  We  have  seen  that  knowledge  was 
the  outcome  of  the  experience  of  the  race,  and  that  it  was 
gradually  ordered  and  classified  as  wider  and  wider  rela- 
tionships were  perceived  in  the  environment.  Education, 
to  function  in  the  great  evolutionary  scheme  of  things,  must 
te  consistent  mith  the  underlying .  laws  of  development. 
The  parallel  between  the  development  of  the  race  and 
that  of  the  child,  recognition  of  which  has  expressed  itself  in 
the  past  in  certain  doctrinaire  beliefs,  notably  the  Culture 
Epoch  Theory,  lies  in  the  process  through  which  the  human 
mind  must  go  in  order  to  reach  its  conclusions.  The  process 
is  the  same  to-day  as  it  was  centuries  ago.  The  only  dif- 
ference is  in  the  infinitely  more  complex  environment  with 
which  the  modern  mind  has  to  deal.  Fundamentally,  the 
possibility  and  opportunity  for  education  lie  in  the 
capacity  and  necessity  for  the  human  organism  to  learn. 
A  human  being  is  an  adaptive  organism.  It  has  certain 
vital  needs  to  be  met,  and  like  all  other  organisms,  it  is 
subject  to  environmentar  influences.  It  has,  however,  in- 
finitely greater  innate  capacities  than  any  other  animal. 
These,  as  we  have  seen,  are  not  effective  at  birth;  their 


58  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

development  depends  upon  experience.  Born  with  the  least 
coordinated  and  finished  structure,  the  effective  adjust- 
ments of  the  human  infant  have  for  the  most  part  to  be 
made  after  birth.  We  have  seen  that  the  scheme  of  adapta- 
tion in  the  animal  world  does  not  permit  the  development 
of  effective  modes  of  learning.  The  human  infant  on  the 
other  hand  almost  from  birth  begins  responding  to  his 
environment  in  an  effort  to  achieve  his  purposes.  As  he 
responds  he  experiences  certain  satisfactions  and  dissatisfac- 
tions and  tends  to  modify  his  conduct  accordingly.  As  a 
consequence  of  this  interaction  with  the  environment,  more 
and  more  effective  adaptations  are  made,  and  learning  takes 
place  at  a  rapid  rate.  "We  see,  therefore,  that  education  is 
implicit  in  the  effective  functioning  of  the  life  processes. 
**As  to  structure,  human  nature  is  undoubtedly  the  most 
plastic  part  of  the  living  world,  the  most  adaptable,  the 
most  educable.  Of  all  animals,  it  is  man  in  whom  heredity 
counts  for  least,  and  conscious  building  forces  for  most. 
Consider  that  his  infancy  is  longest,  his  instincts  least  fixed, 
his  brain  most  unfinished  at  birth,  his  powers  of  habit-mak- 
ing and  habit-changing  most  marked,  his  susceptibility  to 
social  impressions  keenest, — and  it  becomes  clear  that  in 
every  way  nature,  as  a  prescriptive  power,  has  provided  in 
him  for  her  own  displacement.  .  .  .  Other  creatures  nature 
could  largely  finish;  the  human  creature  must  finish  him- 
self." (W.  E.  Hocking,  Human  Nature  and  Its  Remaking^ 
pp.  9-10.) 

In  the  eager  explorative  nature  of  young  children  and  in 
their  plasticity,  then,  we  have  a  condition  readily  lending 
itself  to  educative  influences.  Nature  in  requiring  educa- 
tion has  provided  generously  for  facilitating  it.  It  is  only 
our  blundering  that  has  kept  us  from  taking  advantage  of 
the  great  native  resources  at  hand  and  utilizing  them  for 
educational  purposes.  Education  begins  at  birth  but  left 
to  chance  it  would  be  haphazard  and  ineffective.  Con- 
sciously directed  education  should  seek  to  guide  and  direct 
the  natural  process.  The  school  is  simply  a  part  of  the  great 
institutional  life  which  man  has  evolved  the  more  ade- 
quately to  advance  himself.    The  problem  of  the  school  is 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  59 

how  to  adapt  immature  beings  to  a  Mghly  developed  social 
environment.  Child  nature  is  the  raw  material  of  educa- 
tion, the  stuff  that  has  to  be  moulded  into  forms  more 
efficient  for  social  advancement.  It  seems  evident,  there- 
fore, that  a  scientifically  directed  education  must  begin  with 
a  psychological  insight  into  childish  needs  and  capacities, 
and  must  be  conditioned  at  each  stage  of  its  development  by 
just  such  insight.  **.  .  .  from  the  standpoint  of  the  im- 
mature beings  who  .  .  .  are  being  transformed  into  social 
members  to  sustain  the  community  type  of  life,  .  .  .  educa- 
tion may  be  defined  as  a  process  of  the  continuous  recon- 
struction of  experience  with  the  purpose  of  widening  and 
deepening  its  social  content,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the 
individual  gains  control  of  the  methods  involved,  .  .  .  Ex- 
perience is  crude,  narrow,  and  largely  self-centered.  Yet 
it  has  within  itself  capacities  of  assimilating  and  re-creating 
what  is  most  perfected,  developed  and  generalized  in  cul- 
ture, for  otherwise  the  wonderful  products  of  art,  industry, 
and  science  would  never  have  come  into  being  as  in  the 
past.  Hence  the  educative  process  is  a  constant  proc- 
ess of  making-over  the  existing  experience,  so  that  the 
social  values  lying  blindly  and  crudely  within  it  shall 
be  clarified  and  enlarged.  Yet  the  leverage  of  this  trans- 
formation must  be  sought  and  found  within  experience 
itself;  experience  cannot  be  made  over  from  without,  but 
only  in  the  process  of  its  own  growth.  There  are  dynamic, 
transitive  tendencies  in  the  very  nature  of  experience  which 
tend  to  keep  it  growing  and  expanding.  The  educational 
process  provides  stimuli  that  appeal  to  these  intrinsic  ten- 
dencies." (John  Dewey,  Education,  Cyclopedia  of  Educa- 
tion, p.  400.*) 

We  have  now  defined  the  problem  of  formal  education 
and  indicated  suggestions  for  its  solution.  The  task  of  edu- 
cation is  continuously  to  induce  such  intellectual  and  emo- 
tional responses  in  developing  organisms  as  will  direct  them 
into  desirable  social  channels.  The  solution  of  the  problem 
involves  two  factors:  Social  considerations  determine  the 
end  toward  which  adaptations  are  to  be  directed,  and  sup- 

*By  permission  The  Macmillaii  Co.    Copyright  1911. 


60  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

ply  us  with  the  subject  content  of  education ;  psychological 
processes  dictate  the  method  by  which  our  aim  may  be 
accomplished. 

READING 
Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 

First  ten  chapters. 
Dewey,  John. — My  Pedagogic  Creed,  Flanagan. 
Dewey,    John. — Prospective    Elementary    Education    in 
Teaching  the  Elementary  School  subjects,  edited  by  L. 
Rapeer.    Macmillan. 
Dewey,  John. — Psychology  and  Social  Practice^  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago  Press. 
Dewey,  John. — The  School   and  Society,  University  of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.     I.  The  School  and  Social  Progress. 
Chap.    II.  The  School  and  the  Life  of  the  Child. 
Chap.  III.  Waste  in  Education. 
Chap.  IV.  The  Psychology  of  Elementary  Educa- 
tion. 
Dewey,  John. — ^Articles    on   Education,    Experiment   in 

Education,  Cyclopaedia  of  Education. 
Jennings,  Watson,  Meyer  and  Thomas. — Suggestions  of 

Modem  Science  Concerning  Education,  Macmillan. 
Small,  A.  W. — TJie  Demands  of  Sociology  upon  Pedagogy, 
Flanagan. 

The  Place  of  Activity  in  Education 

The  question  of  method  leads  naturally  to  a  consideration 
of  the  place  of  activity  in  education.  The  curriculum  of 
most  elementary  schools  already  includes  a  variety  of  active 
pursuits  such  as  constructive  work,  modelling,  plays  and 
games  and  the  like.  Their  introduction  in  many  cases  has 
been  sanctioned  for  no  better  reason  than  as  a  concession 
to  the  persistent  activity  of  children.  When  for  the  greater 
part  of  each  day  children  are  forced  into  unnatural  posi- 
tions of  passive  receptivity,  activity  of  any  sort  is  welcomed 
by  teacher  and  children  alike  as  a  relief  from  the  resulting 
tedium  and  strain.    To  accept  such  a  view  is,  however,  to 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  61 

assess  activity  in  a  purely  negative  way,  and  to  fail  entirely 
to  appreciate  its  profound  educational  significance.  It  is 
thereby  reduced  to  a  trivial  role,  as  a  mere  matter  of  ex- 
pediency, or  as  a  diversion  from  the  serious  undertakings 
of  the  school.  Such  a  view  also  fails  to  offer  any  standards 
of  educational  values  in  active  pursuits:  all  are  thereby 
reduced  to  a  dead  level. 

Active  pursuits  as  they  are  now  often  conducted  in 
schools  are  open  to  another  serious  criticism.  The  teacher, 
in  her  zeal  for  achieving  results,  centers  her  attention  upon 
the  finished  product — the  factor  of  least  importance  in  the 
situation — and  fails  to  center  it  upon  the  process,  which  is 
the  really  essential  part  of  the  whole  matter.  The  products 
of  childish  activity  can  never  be  regarded  as  of  any  value 
except  as  an  index  of  the  intellectual  factors  implicit  in 
them.  They  should  be  allowed  to  be  as  crude  as  the  child's 
poorly  coordinated  muscles  necessitate.  The  child  should 
be  allowed  to  make  mistakes,  if  need  be,  in  order  that  by  his 
natural  method  of  trial  and  error  he  may  gain  judgment 
for  use  in  later  attempts.  A  scheme  of  activities  to  be  really 
educative  should  be  rich  in  possibilities  for  making  mis- 
takes, since  it  is  precisely  at  this  point  that  education  takes 
place.  The  teacher's  business  is  not  to  prevent  mistakes — 
which  she  is  likely  to  do  when  her  attention  is  centered  on 
the  product — ^but  to  see  that  the  child  receives  the  full  edu- 
cational benefit  of  his  mistakes  after  he  has  made  them. 
An  automatic  machine  makes  no  mistakes,  but  it  also 
evolves  no  ways  of  meeting  new  situations ;  it  cannot  learn. 
Automatic  control  among  animals  marks  their  limitations. 
Habituation  in  human  beings  marks  the  end  of  progress  in 
any  series  of  thought  processes.  School  activities,  developed 
by  methods  of  prescription  and  dictation,  provide  only 
training,  by  which  pupils  are  enabled  to  meet  more  success- 
fully the  same  situation  when  it  recurs ;  they  fail  to  provide 
education,  by  which  pupils  are  able  to  meet  with  ingenious 
solution  new  situations  as  they  arise.  One  of  the  essentials 
of  growth  is  that  children  should  be  left  free  to  work  out 
for  themselves  the  methods  and  processes  of  successful 
activity. 


62  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

In  following  the  course  of  evolutionary  changes  we  saw 
the  gradual  emergence  of  more  and  more  purposeful  activ- 
ity as  a  vital  factor  in  the  struggle  for  existence ;  we  saw 
that  it  was  through  purposeful  activity  that  man  has  grad- 
ually brought  the  materials  and  forces  of  nature  under  his 
control  and  thus  achieved  his  supremacy  in  the  world.  In 
the  development  of  civilization  we  saw  that  it  was  through 
the  exigencies  of  daily  life,  through  the  emergencies  which 
man  was  constantly  obliged  to  meet  in  providing  food, 
clothing,  shelter,  and  his  other  necessities,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  plan,  to  forecast  the  results  of  various  lines  of 
action,  to  formulate  purposes,  and  to  devise  the  proper 
means  for  their  successful  and  economical  realization.  All 
of  this  means  thinking ;  it  means  thinking  in  the  most  valu- 
able sense  of  the  term.  It  has  been  through  the  constant 
exercise  of  this  kind  of  thinking  that  man  has  improved  his 
technique  of  thinking,  so  that  he  is  able  to  deal  with  situa- 
tions of  the  greatest  complexity.  In  following  the  evolution 
of  knowledge  we  saw  that  dogma  and  superstition  always 
dwelt  on  the  fringes,  and  represented  beliefs  that  had  not 
yet  been  subjected  to  the  test  of  experience.  Progress  in 
knowledge  has  been  the  gradual  extension  of  tested  knowl- 
edge and  the  consequent  diminution  of  unfounded  beliefs. 
Purposeful  activity  may  therefore  be  looked  upon  as  the 
primary  human  motive  force.  It  is  such  activity  that  has 
made  civilization  what  it  is ;  it  is  only  by  such  activity  that 
progress  can  continue  through  each  successive  generation. 
Activity,  therefore,  instead  of  being  a  by-product  of  the 
educative  process,  is  the  process  itself,  since  it  is  through 
purposeful  activity  that  learning  takes  place  and  that  tested 
hnowledge  accrues. 

It  is  because  thinking  is  integrally  related  to  purposeful 
activity  that  activities  offer  a  rich  opportunity  for  the 
emergence  of  thought-provoking  problems.  When  knowl- 
edge is  pursued  directly,  as  is  the  case  in  the  old  school 
regime,  there  is  comparatively  little  opportunity  for  devel- 
oping this  most  valuable  type  of  thinking.  Children  are 
allowed  to  think,  but  only  upon  isolated  issues,  on  little 
unrelated  units  chosen  and  arranged  in  advance  for  them. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  63 

Tliey  are  rarely  permitted  to  tJiink  their  way  out  of  situor 
tions.  Little  opportunity  is  given  for  adapting  ideas  in 
relation  to  a  problem  to  be  solved.  For  the  most  part  the 
attempt  is  made  to  give  training  in  thought  by  ready-made 
methods.  The  power  of  thought  cannot  be  developed  by  the 
direct  method.  What  is  passed  on  under  such  circumstances 
is  the  solution,  not  the  process  hy  which  it  was  arrived  at. 
Thinking  in  childhood  is  not  different  in  kind  from  the 
reasoning  of  adults.  The  difference  lies  in  the  narrow 
range  of  childish  experience  and  in  the  less  highly  special- 
ized thinking  processes.  It  is  evident  that  the  child  cannot 
pursue  the  elaborate  technique  of  adult  thinking.  He  can, 
however,  organize  his  crude  processes  to  meet  situations 
that  are  concrete  and  simple.  It  is  the  task  of  education  to 
help  children  improve  their  methods  of  thinking  by  making 
them  conscious  of  problems,  and  skilled  in  methods  of  solv- 
ing them.  ^'The  most  significant  question  which  can  be 
asked,  accordingly,  about  any  situation  or  experience  pro- 
posed to  induce  learning  is  what  quality  of  problem  it 
involves.  At  first  thought,  it  might  seem  as  if  usual  school 
methods  measured  well  up  to  the  standard  here  set.  The 
giving  of  problems,  the  putting  of  questions,  the  assigning 
of  tasks,  the  magnifying  of  difficulties,  is  a  large  part  of 
school  work.  But  it  is  indispensable  to  discriminate  between 
genuine  and  simulated  or  mock  problems.  The  following 
questions  may  aid  in  making  such  discrimination,  (a) 
Is  there  anything  hut  a  problem?  Does  the  question  nat- 
urally suggest  itself  within  some  situation  of  personal  ex- 
perience? Or  is  it  an  aloof  thing,  a  problem  only  for  the 
purposes  of  conveying  instruction  in  some  school  topic  ?  Is 
it  the  sort  of  trying  that  would  arouse  observation  and  en- 
gage experimentation  outside  of  school?  (6)  Is  it  the  pu- 
pil's own  problem,  or  is  it  the  teacher's  or  text-book's  prob- 
lem, made  a  problem  for  the  pupil  only  because  he  cannot 
get  the  required  mark  or  be  promoted  or  win  the  teacher's 
approval,  unless  he  deals  with  it  ?  ...  As  a  consequence  of 
the  absence  of  the  materials  and  occupations  which  generate 
real  problems,  the  pupil 's  problems  are  not  his ;  or,  rather 
they  are  his  only  as  a  pupil,  not  as  a  human  being.  ...  A 


64  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

pupil  hSs  a  problem,  but  it  is  the  problem  of  meeting  the 
peculiar  requirements  set  by  the  teacher.  His  problem 
becomes  that  of  finding  out  what  the  teacher  wants,  what 
will  satisfy  the  teacher  in  recitation  and  examination  and 
outward  deportment.  Eelationship  to  subject  matter  is  no 
longer  direct.  The  occasions  and  material  of  thought  are 
not  found  in  the  arithmetic  or  the  history  or  geography 
itself,  but  in  skillfully  adapting  that  material  to  the 
teacher's  requirements.''  (John  Dewey,  Democracy  and 
Education,  pp.  182-4.*) 

The  chief  danger  which  is  the  outcome  of  teaching  by 
methods  of  prescription  and  dictation  lies  in  the  type  of 
mind  and  character  it  produces.  It  inevitably  puts  a 
premium  upon  docility  and  routine  thinking,  and  discour- 
ages sturdy  and  independent  thought.  The  results  of  this 
sort  of  training  may  be  of  a  kind  inimical  to  social  progress. 
Minds  habituated  to  passive  acceptance  of  knowledge  from 
those  in  positions  of  authority  without  subjecting  it  to  the 
test  of  personal  reflection  or  inquiry  into  its  validity,  may 
easily  be  persuaded  into  all  sorts  of  false  beliefs.  Educa- 
tion proceeding  by  such  methods  is  open  to  the  danger  of 
becoming  a  mere  process  of  indoctrination,  propagating 
error,  and  perpetuating  prejudice.  Instead  it  should  be  a 
great  dynamic  force  devoted  to  dispelling  illusions,  and 
eradicating  error,  constantly  extending'  the  boundaries  of 
tested  knowledge,  and  thus  consciously  affecting  social  prog- 
ress. Children  who  are  skilled  in  methods  of  experimental 
inquiry  and  proof,  who  are  accustomed  to  examine  into  the 
nature  of  evidence,  will  have  the  power  to  discriminate  be- 
tween sound  knowledge  and  unfounded  opinion  and  dog- 
matic belief.  The  greatest  safeguard  against  the  irrational 
tendencies  always  current  in  the  social  environment  is  the 
development  of  that  attitude  of  mind  known  as  scientific. 
Without  such  an  equipment  we  are  defenceless  against  the 
ideas  that  come  down  to  us  through  tradition.  ''While  it 
is  not  the  business  of  education  to  prove  every  statement 
made,  any  more  than  to  teach  every  possible  item  of  infor- 
mation, it  is  its  business  to  cultivate  deep-seated  and  effect- 

*By  permiasion  The  Macmillan  Co.    Copyright  1916. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  65 

ive  habits  of  discriminating  tested  beliefs  from  mere  asser- 
tions, guesses,  and  opinions;  to  develop  a  lively,  sincere, 
and  open-minded  preference  for  conclusions  that  are  prop- 
erly grounded,  and  to  ingrain  into  the  individual's  working 
habits  methods  of  inquiry  and  reasoning  appropriate  to  the 
various  problems  that  present  themselves.  No  matter  how 
much  an  individual  knows  as  a  matter  of  hearsay  and 
information,  if  he  has  not  attitudes  and  habits  of  this  sort, 
he  is  not  intellectually  educated.  He  lacks  the  rudiments 
of  mental  discipline.  And  since  these  habits  are  not  a  gift 
of  nature — no  matter  how  strong  the  aptitude  for  acquiring 
them:  since,  moreover,  the  casual  circumstances  of  the 
natural  and  social  environment  are  not  enough  to  compel 
their  acquisition,  the  main  office  of  education  is  to  supply 
conditions  that  make  for  their  cultivation.  The  formation 
of  these  habits  is  the  Training  of  Mind.''  (John  Dewey, 
How  We  Think,  pp.  27-28.*) 

The  primary  educational  importance  of  activities  lies  in 
the  fact  that  offering  as  they  do,  innumerable  opportunities 
for  the  solution  of  real  problems  by  the  methods  of  scien- 
tific inquiry  and  proof,  they  offer  the  most  natural  and 
direct  means  of  training  in  that  type  of  mind  known  as 
scientific.  "One  of  the  only  two  articles  that  remain  in 
my  creed  of  life  is  that  the  future  of  our  civilization 
depends  upon  the  widening  spread  and  deepening  hold  of 
the  scientific  habit  of  mind:  and  that  the  problem  of 
problems  in  our  education  is  therefore  to  discover  how 
to  mature  and  make  effective  this  scientific  habit.  Mankind 
so  far  has  been  ruled  by  things  and  by  words,  not  by 
thought,  for  till  the  last  few  moments  of  history,  humanity 
has  not  been  in  possession  of  the  conditions  of  secure  and 
effective  thinking.  ... 

' '  Scientific  method  is  not  just  a  method  which  it  has  been 
found  profitable  to  pursue  in  this  or  that  abstruse  subject 
for  purely  technical  reasons.  It  represents  the  only  method 
of  thinking  that  has  proved  fruitful  in  any  subject — that  is 
what  we  mean  when  we  call  it  scientific.  It  is  not  a  peculiar 
development  of  thinking  for  highly  specialized  ends;  it 

*By  permission  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.    Copyrigut  i910. 


66  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

is  thinking  so  far  as  thought  has  become  conscious  of  its 
proper  ends  and  of  the  equipment  indispensable  for 
success  in  their  pursuit.  ...  If  ever  we  are  to  be  gov- 
erned by  intelligence,  not  by  things  and  by  words, 
science  must  have  something  to  say  about  what  we  do, 
and  not  merely  about  how  we  may  do  it  most  easily 
and  economically.  And  if  this  consummation  is  achieved, 
the  transformation  must  occur  through  education,  by 
bringing  home  to  men's  habitual  inclination  and  attitude 
the  significance  of  genuine  knowledge  and  the  full  import 
of  the  conditions  requisite  for  its  attainment.  Actively  to 
participate  in  the  making  of  knowledge  is  the  highest  pre- 
rogative of  man  and  the  only  warrant  of  his  freedom.'' 
(John  Dewey,  Science  as  Subject  Matter  and  as  Method, 
Science,  Jan.  28,  1910,  p.  127.*) 

The  organization  of  the  school  as  a  community,  involving 
as  it  does  frequent  necessity  for  the  adjustment  of  social 
relations  similar  to  those  occurring  in  the  real  world,  pro- 
vides the  best  environment  possible  for  the  development  of 
the  scientific  attitude  in  relation  to  social  events  and  rela- 
tions. When  social  situations  arise  in  a  purely  educative 
mediuniy  it  is  possible  as  under  no  other  circumstances  to 
analyze  them,  to  point  out  their  weakness  or  strength — in 
short,  to  bring  out  their  full  educative  value  and  gradually 
to  build  up  a  conception  of  social  relations  as  they  should 
be,  and  a  consciously  directed  technique  of  cooperation. 
Children  accustomed  to  respond  in  desirable  ways  to  social 
situations  during  the  formative  period  will  have  acquired 
modes  of  reaction  of  the  greatest  social  value  in  later  life. 
Such  training  will  be  of  the  greatest  importance  in  bringing 
about  that  more  conscious  organization  of  society,  so  cru- 
cially needed,  by  which  we  order  social  changes,  instead  of 
undergoing  change  blindly.  * '  A  nation  habituated  to  think 
in  terms  of  problems  and  of  the  struggle  to  remedy  them 
before  it  is  actually  in  the  grip  of  the  forces  which  create 
the  problems,  would  have  an  equipment  for  public  life, 
such  as  has  not  characterized  any  people.  ...  Is  there  any 
meaning  in  the  phrase  'democratic  control'  of  social  affairs 

*B7  permission  The  Science  Press. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  67 

save  as  men  have  been  educated  into  an  intellectual  famil- 
iarity with  the  weak  places,  the  dark  places,  the  unsettled 
difficulties  of  our  society  before  they  are  overwhelmed  by 
them  practically?"  (John  Dewey,  Tlie  Schools  and  Social 
PreparednesSf  New  Republic,  May,  1916,  p.  16.) 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 
Chap.       XI.  Experience  and  Thinking. 
Chap.      XII.  Thinking  in  Education. 
Chap.  XXV.  Theories  of  Knowledge. 
Dewey,  John. — How  We  Think,  Heath. 

Chap.      II.  The  Need  for  Training  Thought. 
Chap.     III.  Natural  Resources  in  the  Training  of 

Thought. 
Chap.      V.  The  Means  and  End  of  Mental  Train- 
ing. 
Chap.  XII.  Activity  and  the  Training  of  Thought. 
Dewey,  John. — Interest  and  Effort  in  Education,  Hough- 
ton. 
Dewey,  John. — Reasoning  in  Young  Children,  in  Experi- 
mental Studies  in  Kindergarten  Education,  Teachers 
College  Publication. 
Dewey,  John. — The   School  and   Society,   University   of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  II.  The  School  and  the  Life  of  the  Child. 
Dewey,  John. — Science  as  Subject  Matter  and  as  Method, 

Science,  Jan.  28,  1910. 
Miller,  I.  E. — The  Psychology  of  Thinking,  Macmillan. 

Chap.  VIII.  Conditions  and  Function  of  Think- 
ing. 
Chap.  XIII.  Educational  Applications  and  Illus- 
trations. 

The  Organization  of  Activities 

When  the  fundamental  psychological  significance  of 
activity  is  fully  realized,  the  whole  task  of  the  school 
assumes  a  new  aspect.    Instead  of  being  a  problem  in  the 


68  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

organization  of  subjects  of  study ^  tlie  basic  problem  of  tJie 
school  becomes  the  formulation  of  a  program  of  activities. 
It  resolves  itself  into  discovering  the  characteristics  of  the 
impulse  to  activity  at  different  periods  of  growth,  and  in 
arranging  activities  in  accordance  with  the  gradually  ex- 
panding capacities  of  the  growing  child.  From  the  educa- 
tional point  of  view,  however,  activity  is  not  an  end  in 
itself.  It  is  only  the  most  potent  because  the  most  natural 
means.  Childish  activities  are  educationally  important 
only  in  that  they  are  significant  indications  of  possible 
future  experiences;  their  value  is  in  the  leverage  they 
afford,  not  in  the  accomplishment  they  represent.  The 
problem  of  the  school  becomes,  therefore,  the  selection  out 
of  the  countless  possibilities  for  activity  open  to  children, 
of  such  activities  as  will  gradually  adjust  them  to  the  social 
responsibilities  of  adult  life,  which  will  provide  experiences 
developing  social  sensitiveness  and  control,  and  which  will 
at  the  same  time  give  skill  in  desirable  techniques. 

Activity  as  Play 

Play  has  for  a  long  time  been  considered  a  legitimate 
educational  factor  until  the  mystic  age  of  six  is  reached. 
The  conception  of  play  here  advocated  sharply  differen- 
tiates it,  however,  from  the  conventional  kindergarten  or 
Montessori  philosophy,  and  demands  a  much  broader  and, 
more  extensive  utilization  of  the  play  impulse  in  school.  It 
demands  also  an  entirely  different  treatment  by  the  teacher 
and  an  entirely  different  play  equipment.  Groos's  conclu- 
sion that  the  play  impulse  was  developed  through  natural 
selection  as  a  means  of  adapting  the  organism  to  its  environ- 
ment, was  a  significant  contribution  to  the  theory  of  child- 
hood of  profound  importance  to  education.  The  admission 
of  play  into  the  school  according  to  this  point  of  view  is  a 
recognition  of  the  general  educational  principle:  that  the 
natural  processes  of  growth  form  the  basis  of  the  educative 
process;  that  the  nascent  instincts  furnish  the  raw  material 
of  education.  If  we  subscribe  to  this  point  of  view  in 
regard  to  play,  it  dictates  the  ends  to  be  sought,  and  the 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  69 

procedure  and  the  materials  to  be  employed.  Play  is 
natural  education  because  it  is  identical  with  the  life 
process.  The  function  of  education  is  not  to  teach  a  child 
to  play,  but  to  provide  opportunity  for  play.  Educative 
play  has  its  justification  in  the  fact  that  through  it  the 
play  development  of  the  child  is  not  left  to  chance  influ- 
ences. The  school  provides  an  environment  carefully 
thought  out  and  consciously  arranged  to  stimulate  the 
natural  growth  of  the  organism.  We  must  not  forget  that 
the  play  world  is  the  real  world  to  the  child,  and  that  it  is 
by  means  of  it  that  he  interprets  the  real  world,  working 
out  for  himself  the  relationships  in  it  and  thus  experiencing 
it.  This  philosophy  of  play  determines  the  type  to  be 
undertaken.  It  must  be  creative,  not  dictated;  always 
governed  by  the  child's  inner  purposes.  The  great  thing, 
educationally  speaking,  is  to  make  the  child  conscious  of  the 
play  possibilities  in  his  own  environment,  to  suggest  relation- 
ships implicit  in  familiar  experiences,  to  keep  the  play 
impulse  going  from  stage  to  stage  of  related  play,  thus  con- 
tinually expanding  the  boundaries  of  experience  and  deep- 
ening its  meaning.  If  education  means  the  conscious 
direction  of  the  native  impulses  of  children  into  channels  of 
greater  social  usefulness,  it  must  lay  hold  of  this  great 
natural  asset  of  childhood  and  utilize  it  to  its  fullest  extent, 
making  it  the  medium  through  which  the  child  gains  social 
I  experience. 

One's  conception  of  play  naturally  influences  the  choice 
of  play  materials.  The  introduction  of  toys  and  playthings 
into  school  is  an  innovation  looked  upon  with  doubt;  but 
if  we  grant  the  validity  of  the  philosophy  of  play  outlined, 
playthings  take  on  a  new  meaning  and  follow  as  a  matter 
of  course.  They  are  not  a  means  of  amusement,  but  the 
tools  of  childhood,  and  as  such  are  worthy  of  a  serious  edu- 
cational consideration.  You,  cannot  expect  a  child,  generous 
as  is  his  attitude  toward  play  materials,  adaptable  as  he  is 
in  converting  almost  anything  to  his  play  uses,  to  express 
himself  adequately  without  proper  means  of  expression; 
even  he  cannot  make  bricks  without  straw.  We  should  pro- 
vide him  with  toys  and  blocks,  dolls,  clay,  crayons,  paper, 


70  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

and  other  play  materials  by  which  he  may  reproduce  his 
home,  his  father's  shop,  the  neighborhood  with  its  streets 
full  of  traffic,  the  docks,  the  factories,  and  all  the  wealth  of 
detail  that  makes  up  the  modern  world.  It  is  by  means  of 
his  active  relations  with  these  play  materials,  that  the  child 
is  thinking  through  the  home  and  community  processes 
which  he  sees  going  on  about  him. 

This  point  of  view  governs  the  choice  of  playthings, 
enabling  us  to  discriminate  between  those  which  are  edu- 
cative and  those  which  are  not.  Since  toys  are  the  means 
by  which  the  child  reproduces  his  environment  they  should 
be  thought  of  not  as  isolated  units,  but  in  groups,  related  to 
the  environment  to  be  duplicated,  and  to  each  other.  Other- 
wise they  remain  separate  objects,  inert,  like  the  half- 
assembled  parts  of  a  great  machine,  not  the  active  agents 
for  interpreting  related  sequences.  Since  the  play  impulse 
is  active,  not  passive,  the  character  of  the  toys  should  be 
such  that  activity  does  not  reside  in  the  toy  but  remains 
with  the  child.  *'The  marvelous  increase  in  the  number 
and  variety  of  children's  toys  is  a  subject  worthy  of  more 
serious  attention  than  it  has  yet  received.  Even  a  super- 
ficial observation  of  these  toys  indicates  that  many  of  them 
are  of  such  a  character  as  to  leave  the  child  comparatively 
passive.  The  activity  is  handed  over  to  a  mechanism.  The 
child  gets  his  emotional  excitement  without  regard  to  its 
legitimate  expenditure.  The  balance  between  the  sensory 
and  motor  nerves  is  destroyed,  the  organic  circuit  is  broken, 
the  tendency  to  rely  on  an  external  stimulus  is  fostered. 
The  mere  fact  that  the  stimulus  calls  for  so  little  motor 
response  is  sufficient  to  explain  its  temporary  effect  and 
the  constant  demand  for  some  new  means  of  stimulation. 
Could  parents  and  teachers  take  even  a  few  minutes  a  day 
or  a  few  hours  a  week  to  help  children  to  see  the  possibilities 
in  a  pile  of  sand,  an  unoccupied  piece  of  ground,  the  tough 
grasses  and  woody  fibers  growing  in  the  waste  places,  a 
neighboring  tree,  dry-goods  boxes,  paper  and  paste,  in  short 
in  any  of  the  legitimate  materials  in  the  environment  of  the 
child,  there  would  be  a  saving  of  time  for  adults  and  a  more 
normal  and  happy  growth  in  the  child.     Such  conditions 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  71 

would  afford  a  normal  outlet  for  the  constructive  instincts, 
which  need  nutrition  at  this  period.  .  .  /'  (K.  E.  Dopp,  T/ie 
Place  of  Industries  in  Elementary  Education,  pp.  107- 
108.*)  As  Miss  Dopp  points  out,  we  must  use  discrimination 
not  only  in  the  type  of  toys  selected,  but  in  the  number. 
The  young  child  should  not  be  overwhelmed  by  the  com- 
plexity of  the  play  environment  provided.  It  must  bear 
some  relation  to  his  present  needs  and  it  must  be  suggestive 
enough  to  link  the  child's  narrow  personal  concerns  with 
those  of  the  great  world.  There  should  be  just  enough  play 
material  to  act  as  a  stimulus  in  initiating  play.  When  once 
the  play  is  under  way  more  playthings  can  be  supplied  to 
keep  it  going,  or,  even  better,  the  children  may  be  en- 
couraged to  add  to  their  nucleus  of  playthings  by  making 
their  own.  Such  activity  is  valuable  in  exercising  the 
children's  inventive  powers,  in  making  use  of  materials  at 
hand  to  satisfy  their  expanding  needs. 

READING 
Chambers,   Smith  and  Others. — Report  of  tJie  Experi- 
mental Work  in  the  School  of  Childhood^  University  of 
Pittsburgh  Bulletin,  1916. 
Cook,  H.  C.—The  Play  Way,  Stokes. 

Chap.     I.  General  Principles  of  the  Play  Way. 
Chap.  II.  General  Method  of  the  Play  Way. 
Chap.  VI.  Play  Town. 
Deming,  Hunt  and  Others. — ^Bureau  of  Educational  Ex- 
periments Publications. 

Bulletin        I.  Playthings. 
Bulletin     III.  The  Play  School. 
Bulletin     IV.  The   Children's  School^   Teacher's 
College  Play  Ground,  The  Greg- 
ory School. 
Bulletin       V.  The  Stony  Ford  School,  The  Home 

School. 
Bulletin  VIII.  A  Catalogue  of  Play  Equipment. 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.     Copyright  1902  by 
The  University  of  Chicago. 


72  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 
Chap.  XV.  Play  and  Work  in  the  Curriculum. 
Dewey,  John. — How  We  Think,  Heath. 

Chap.    XII.  Section  2,  Play,  Work,  and  Allied 

Forms  of  Activity. 
Chap.  XVI.  Section  2,  Process  and  Product. 
Dewey,  John. — Interest  and  Effort  in  Education,  Hough- 
ton. 

Chap.  IV.  Types  of  Educative  Interest. 
Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn. — Schools  of  To-morrow,  Dut* 
ton. 

Chap.  V.  Play. 
Hall,  G.  Stanley. — Aspects  of  Child  Life^  Ginn. 

The  Story  of  a  Sand  Pile. 
Hetherington,  C.  W. — The  Demonstration  Play  School  of 

1913y  University  of  California  Bulletin,  1914. 
Hill,  Patty  Smith  and  Others. — Experimental  Studies  in 
Kindergarten  Education,  Teachers  College  Publication. 
Kilpatrick,  W.  H. — The    Montessori   System   Examined, 

Houghton. 
Kilpatrick,   W.    H. — FroeheVs    Kindergarten   Principles 

Critically  Examined,  Macmillan. 
Lee,  Joseph. — Play  in  Education,  Macmillan. 
Murray  and  Brown. — The  Child  Under  Eight,  Longmans. 
Pratt,  C.  L. — The  Real  Joy  in  Toys,  in  ''Parents  and  Their 
Problems,"  National  Congress  of  Mothers,  Washington, 
D.  C. 
Wells,  H.  G. — Floor  GameSy  Small,  Maynard. 
Wood,  Walter. — Children's  Play  and  Its  Place  in  Educor 
tion,  DuJBfield. 

The  aim  of  schools  for  young  children  then  should  be  to 
provide  a  center  rich  in  possibilities  for  play,  in  which  all 
the  desirable  tendencies  of  child  life  may  find  legitimate 
satisfaction.  The  fundamental  question  to  be  answered  is : 
what  constitutes  an  all  round  opportunity  for  play?  Fol- 
lowing are  some  of  the  more  important  types  of  activity  in 
which  children  naturally  engage,  which  should  be  provided 
for  in  the  school  plan. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  73 

Dramatic  Activities. — ^Dramatic  activities  should  occupy 
a  most  important  place  in  our  conception  of  educative  play, 
because  it  is  by  means  of  them  that  children  interpret  con- 
duct and  social  action.  The  school  environment  should 
therefore  offer  ample  opportunity  for  a  broad  range  of 
dramatizations  of  social  situations.  The  early  plays  of  chil- 
dren are  usually  domestic  in  character,  since  dramatization 
requires  related  information,  and  the  nucleus  of  the  child's 
early  stock  of  related  information  is  in  connection  with 
home  life.  These  home  plays  are  especially  suited  to  young 
children  for  several  reasons.  Representations  of  home  life 
with  its  setting  and  the  occupations  carried  on  in  the  home 
are  simple  enough  to  allow  children  to  see  situations  as 
wholes,  and  as  they  do  not  make  great  demand  upon  tech- 
nique, they  allow  even  young  children  to  realize  their  pur- 
poses. They  therefore  give  desirable  reflexes  in  allowing 
children  to  feel  at  each  stage  of  the  process  the  emotional 
glow  which  accompanies  the  mastery  of  a  new  power.  They 
provide  suflicient  variety  to  give  continual  diversity  to 
action,  and  thus  permit  that  ready  shift  of  attention  char- 
acteristic of  the  play  of  young  children,  yet  they  have  an 
underlying  unity  which  gives  a  sense  of  organization,  and 
affords  opportunity  for  disclosing  relationships  as  emphasis 
passes  from  one  phase  to  another.  They  make  possible  par- 
ticipation in  a  great  variety  of  processes,  and  introduce 
children  to  the  purposeful  use  of  a  great  variety  of  ma- 
terials. In  the  course  of  these  dramatic  representations 
more  and  more  related  information  can  be  attached,  and 
experience  thus  deepened  and  broadened.  The  home  plays 
develop  naturally,  with  increasing  ability  and  knowledge, 
into  plays  reproducing  all  kinds  of  industrial  and  social 
situations.  By  extending  the  child's  experience  we  give 
him  more  material  for  his  dramatic  purposes.  Dramatic 
plays  are  therefore  closely  related  to  investigation  and 
experimentation.  Altogether  the  admission  of  this  sort  of 
plays  into  the  school  plan  seems  to  be  justified  by  the  fact 
that  it  provides  for  the  union  of  so  many  valuable  edu* 
cative  factors. 


74.  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 


READING 

Dewey,   John. — The  Scliool  and  Society,  University  of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  V.  Froebel's  Educational  Principles. 

Investigation  and  Experimentation. — The  two  most  im- 
portant ways  in  which  man  has  learned  the  secrets  of  the 
universe  are  by  means  of  discovery  and  experiment.  The 
child  learns  about  his  world  by  the  same  methods.  It  is 
important,  therefore,  to  open  up  these  two  great  avenues  of 
knowledge  in  the  play-life  of  children.  Before  entering 
school,  children  have  learned  a  great  deal  by  this  method. 
The  world  of  man  and  nature  is  new  and  presents  vast 
opportunities  for  investigation.  For  young  children  life 
consists  in  a  series  of  delightful  experiments,  the  world  is  an 
unending  field  for  adventure.  The  great  task  of  the  school 
is  to  preserve  and  perfect  the  eager  explorative  nature  of 
childhood,  by  providing  wider  and  more  consciously  ar- 
ranged opportunities  than  the  child  could  get  outside  of 
school.  Since  dramatic  plays  are  dependent  for  their 
development  upon  an  increase  of  related  information  and  a 
free  and  ready  use  of  materials  they  give  point  and  con- 
tinuity to  related  activities  such  as  excursions  and  experi- 
mentation. The  need  for  greater  information  to  complete 
a  play  scheme  necessitates  an  excursion  into  the  neighbor- 
hood to  see  the  real  thing  in  operation,  or  the  need  for  some 
plaything  makes  necessary  its  construction  out  of  materials 
at  hand.  Whenever  the  completion  of  a  situation  requires 
the  child  to  explore  his  environment  for  illustrative  ma- 
terial or  necessitates  the  conversion  of  materials  into  forms 
more  adequately  satisfying  his  purposes,  the  impulses  to 
investigate  and  experiment  are  functioning  on  a  high  edu- 
cative level. 

In  the  school  plan,  therefore,  excursions  and  trips  will 
play  a  far  more  vital  part  than  they  now  do  in  school  life. 
At  present  they  are  too  often  regarded  as  interruptions  of 
the  ** regular  work"  and  time  begrudgingly  provided  for 
them.    Here  they  are  seen  to  be  fundamental  to  the  exten- 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  75 

sion  of  experience  and  to  introducing  the  child,  through 
personal  contact,  into  the  social  and  physical  world  in  which 
he  is  ultimately  to  play  his  part.  The  purpose  of  these 
excursions  should  be  to  reveal  to  the  children  the  motivating 
forces,  and  the  processes  of  social  and  natural  phenomena. 
We  cannot  know  life  by  second-hand  methods,  by  reading 
or  talking  about  it.  The  facts  of  life  are  all  around  us;  to 
understand  them  the  child  must  see  them  in  their  natural 
setting.  Through  the  organization  of  definite  trips  of  ex- 
ploration the  school  can  greatly  multiply  children's  points 
of  contact  with  the  world.  Trips  and  excursions  are  the 
threads  that  interlace  between  the  school  and  life  outside, 
connecting  the  two  as  the  children  mature  by  an  ever  in- 
creasing network.  By  this  means  the  neighborhood  grad- 
ually becomes  the  child's  social  laboratory.  The  city  child 
comes  to  learn  at  first-hand  how  his  small  concerns  are 
linked  up  with  the  great  humming  life  of  the  city  around 
him ;  the  country  child  may  make  some  important  economic 
deductions  about  the  sources  of  the  raw  materials  supplying 
the  great  world  with  the  wherewithal  to  do  its  work  and 
keep  itself  going.  Excursions  for  each  sort  of  child  should 
include  not  only  those  into  the  nearby  neighborhood,  but 
longer  trips — for  the  country  child  into  the  nearest  town, 
and  vice  versa  for  the  city  child.  It  might  be  possible  to 
follow  a  commodity  from  its  source  to  its  destination  and 
thus  give  a  realization  of  the  mutual  interdependence  of 
city  and  country.  These  trips,  then,  will  be  undertaken 
with  definite  purpose,  and  will  include  a  great  variety  of 
places — excursions  to  museums,  to  industrial  and  commer- 
cial plants,  to  docks  and  harbors,  to  historic  places,  to 
farms,  and  so  on.  These  countless  related  new  experiences 
will  form  the  basis  of  the  children's  understanding  and 
appreciation  of  the  world  and  all  its  marvelous  industries 
and  institutions.  On  the  way  will  be  assimilated  a  vast 
store  of  information  about  the  essentials  of  social  life,  which 
will  afterward  no  doubt  find  its  expression  in  the  dramatic 
and  constructive  activities  of  the  school. 

"We  must  utilize  to  the  fullest  extent  not  only  children's 
natural  curiosity  about  the  world  in  which  they  live,  but 


76  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

also  their  natural  love  of  tinkering  and  doing  things.  Far 
from  being  mere  idle  fooling,  as  it  is  so  often  thought  to  be, 
this  playful  manipulation  is  fraught  with  the  greatest  edu- 
cational possibilities.  It  was  by  means  of  playing  with  a 
kite  that  Franklin  made  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
application  of  electricity ;  it  was  through  watching  a  falling 
apple  that  Newton  was  able  to  make  important  deductions 
regarding  the  force  of  gravity.  Young  children  should  be 
given  every  opportunity  to  try  out  their  ideas,  to  handle 
materials,  to  see  what  can  be  done  with  tools  and  machines, 
to  indulge  in  the  playful  manipulation  of  toys  and  appli- 
ances involving  mechanical  principles.  With  increase  of 
ability  this  manipulating  instinct  will  gradually  expand 
into  more  complicated  activities  with  wood,  with  plastic 
materials,  with  textiles  and  the  like.  Children  should  be 
allowed  to  keep  pets  and  thus  observe  them  in  their  natural 
habitat.  They  should  be  given  opportunity  to  grow  plants 
in  gardens  and  thus  by  experimentation  to  learn  the  condi- 
tions of  growth.  In  the  natural  desire  of  young  children  to 
handle  things  and  see  what  will  happen  we  have  the  crude 
basis  for  the  development  of  experimental  science.  From 
interest  in  seeing  what  happens  under  certain  circum- 
stances to  arranging  conditions  so  that  certain  results  will 
follow  is  but  a  step.  If  this  interest  develops  so  that  the 
conditions  are  intentionally  varied,  and  a  purposeful  effort 
is  thus  made  to  find  out  what  conditions  are  present  when 
the  effect  occurs,  and  absent  when  it  does  not  occur,  a 
principle  can  be  enunciated,  and  we  have  the  constituents 
of  a  scientific  experiment.  By  developing  activities  in  this 
way,  we  use  every-day  experiences  to  introduce  children  into 
those  methods  of  discovery  and  verification  which  are  the 
chief  resource  of  scientific  reasoning. 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — Science  as  Subject  Matter  and  as  Method. 

Science,  Jan.  28, 1910. 
Dewey,  John. — Article  .on  the  Logic  of  Experimentation. 

Cyclopaedia  of  Education.    Macmillan- 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  77 

Dewey,  John. — The  School  and  Society.     University  of 

Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  II.  The  School  and  the  Life  of  the  Child. 
Edwards,  C.  L. — Nature  Play.    Popular  Science  Monthly, 

April,  1914. 
Garrett,  L.   B. — Study  of  Animal  Families  in  Schools. 

Bureau  of  Educational  Experiments,  Bulletin  No.  2. 

Art  Activities. — The  art  impulse  lies  very  close  to  the 
play  impulse;  it  is  activity  indulged  in  for  its  own  sake, 
not  under  the  pressure  of  supplying  material  needs.  In- 
deed it  finds  expression  usually  only  in  the  leisure  that 
results  when  material  needs  have  been  satisfied.  The  effort 
of  the  self  is  always  to  enlarge  itself  through  expression. 
Whenever  man  transcends  the  bounds  of  ordinary  experi- 
ence he  instinctively  attempts  to  perpetuate  his  images  in 
satisf^dng  form  through  creative  activity.  The  product, 
however  crude  it  may  be,  inevitably  takes  on  certain  art 
qualities  such  as  balance,  rhythm,  harmony  and  the  like. 
It  is  because  the  art  impulse  and  the  play  impulse  are 
kin  that  it  is  possible  in  school  to  develop  the  natural 
activities  of  children  •  into  forms  having  significant  art 
values.  *'Play  as  work,  as  freely  productive  activity,  in- 
dustry as  leisure,  that  is,  as  occupation  which  fills  the  im- 
agination and  the  emotions  as  well  as  the  hands,  is  the 
essence  of  art.  Art  is  not  an  outer  product  nor  an  outer 
behavior.  It  is  an  attitude  of  spirit,  a  state  of  mind — one 
which  demands  for  its  satisfaction  and  fulfilling  a  shaping 
of  matter  to  new  and  more  significant  form.  To  feel 
the  meaning  of  what  one  is  doing  and  to  rejoice  in  that 
meaning,  to  unite  in  one  concurrent  fact  the  unfolding  of 
the  inner  life  and  the  ordered  development  of  material  con- 
ditions— that  is  art.  The  external  signs — rhythm,  sym- 
metry, arrangement  of  values,  what  you  please — these 
things  are  signs  of  art  in  the  degree  in  which  they  exhibit 
the  union  of  inner  joyful  thought  and  outward  control  of 
nature 's  forces.  Otherwise  they  are  dead  and  mechanical. ' ' 
(John  Dewey,  Culture  and  Industry  in  Education,  Educa- 
tional Bi-monthly,  Oct.  1,  1906,  p.  8.*) 

*By  permission  Chicago  Normal  College. 


78  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

This  description  of  the  art  impulse  should  serve  to  give 
a  more  fundamental  conception  of  the  purpose  of  art  than 
is  evident  in  the  work  of  many  schools,  and  to  give  a  clue 
to  the  methods  by  which  the  vital  connection  between  art 
and  life  may  be  made  evident  to  children.  We  must  set  the 
school  conditions  so  that  the  growth  of  artistic  production 
is  possible.  If  children  are  given  experiences  that  kindle 
their  imagination  and  stir  their  emotions,  they  will  spon- 
taneously express  themselves  in  forms  objectifying  their 
images.  These  productions,  crude  though  they  be,  will  be 
found  to  have  art  value.  The  free  creative  tendencies  of 
children  released  in  channels  of  satisfying  achievement, 
should  therefore  form  the  basis  of  instruction  in  art.  De- 
velopment in  art  may  be  looked  upon  as  play,  under  the 
principle  of  order  becoming  conscious  of  itself. 

It  may  be  thought  that  since  most  children  are  to  become 
appreciators  rather  than  creators  of  art,  that  appreciation 
might  be  developed  through  more  direct  methods.  But  it  is 
particularly  true  of  children,  that  it  is  only  through  per- 
sonal experience  that  they  can  appreciate  the  recorded  ex- 
periences of  others;  in  other  words,  that  appreciation  fol- 
lows experience.  It  is  only  hy  taking  part  in  creative  pro- 
ductions, not  for  the  sake  of  producing  beauty,  hut  as  a 
means  of  expressing  significant  feelings,  tJiat  a  vigorous 
and  wholesome  appreciation  of  art  can  he  huilt.  In  de- 
veloping the  art  spirit  the  appreciation  of  traditional  works 
of  art  is  important,  but  the  greatest  care  should  be  exer- 
cised in  their  use,  since  they  are  specific  responses  to  situa- 
tions quite  different  from  the  situation  in  which  the  child 
finds  himself.  Wherever  they  can  be  used,  however,  as  a 
means  of  enabling  the  child  to  assess  his  own  production,  or 
as  a  stimulus  to  further  personal  expression,  their  use  is 
justified  and  valuable. 

This  point  of  view  indicates  also  the  use  and  value  of 
instruction  in  technique  in  art.  Technique  should  be  intro- 
duced as  needed  as  a  stimulus  to  improving  expression.  As 
each  step  in  technique  means  so  much  inhibition  it  is 
dangerous  to  set  up  these  boundaries  before  ideas  have  an 
opportunity  to  originate  and  mature.    Professor  Dewey  has 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  79 

made  such  a  significant  analysis  of  the  psychology  of  art 
production  that  it  is  incorporated  here  almost  in  full,  and 
is  intended  to  supply  the  point  of  view  not  only  for  drawing, 
with  which  it  specifically  deals,  but  with  music,  dancing, 
and  all  other  art  forms. 

*'It  is  obvious  that  the  teaching  of  artistic  expression 
will  start  along  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  and  be  effective 
as  to  both  external  output  and  as  to  the  educator  of  the 
individual  pupil  just  in  the  degree  in  which  it  bases  itself 
upon  the  psychical  impulse  which  furnishes  the  motive  to 
expression.  But  something  more  is  required  than  a  right 
start.  If  the  education  is  to  be  effective,  this  impulse  must 
be  directed,  must  be  utilized  to  the  full.  .  .  .  We  have 
plenty  of  glorification  of  art,  and  of  the  importance  of 
artistic  training,  but  we  have  almost  no  definite  scientific 
attempts  to  translate  the  artistic  process  over  into  terms 
of  its  psychical  machinery — that  is,  of  the  mental  processes 
which  occasion  and  which  effect  such  expression.  In  enter- 
ing upon  the  attempt  to  make  such  a  translation  I  shaU 
select  as  basis  of  the  discussion,  for  reasons  that  require  no 
explanation,  drawing  as  the  type  of  artistic  expression. 

*'We  may  begin  our  analysis  with  the  familiar  distinction 
of  idea  and  technique.  Every  mode  of  expression,  no  matter 
how  mechanical,  no  matter  how  fantastic,  how  impression- 
istic, has  these  tvv'o  sides.  The  architect's  drawing  of  the 
plan  of  a  house,  the  engineer's  working  plan  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  machine  must  have  an  idea  to  be  expressed, 
or  else  any  series  of  lines  drawn  with  a  ruler  would  serve 
as  well.  And  the  crudest  attempt  of  a  child  to  illustrate 
*Hickory-Dickory-Dock'  has  also  its  technique* — ^its  mode 
of  realization.  It  is  also  clear  that  in  this  process  of  expres- 
sion the  primary  function  belongs  to  the  idea,  the  secondary 
to  the  technique;  they  are  related  as  content  and  form,  as 
material  to  be  conveyed  and  delivered  and  as  mode  of  con- 
veyance, as  what  and  as  how.  But  lest  this  statement  should 
be  misinterpreted,  as  it  seems  to  me  it  often  is  misinter- 
preted, it  must  be  added  that  to  say  that  one  is  final  and 

*Tliis  is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  distinction  hereafter 
made  between  unconscious  and  conscious  technique. 


80  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

the  other  subservient,  one  is  end,  the  other  means,  does  not 
of  necessity  mean  that  attention  is  to  be  concentrated  upon 
the  one  and  the  other  is  to  be  neglected.  What  we  derive 
from  this  statement  of  the  subservience  of  technique  to  idea 
is  not  a  criterion  for  the  amount  of  attention  to  be  given 
to  each,  but  a  criterion  for  the  reason  of  directing  attention 
to  one  or  the  other ;  we  get  a  motive  for  attending.  If  one 
is  thoroughly  interested  in  the  idea  as  something  to  be 
expressed,  he  must,  on  that  account,  be  interested  in  the 
mode  of  expression.  An  insufficient  interest  in  the  form  or 
process  always  marks  something  crude,  hazy,  or  unreal  in 
the  content.  "We  must  be  interested  in  the  expression  just 
in  proportion  to  the  intensity,  the  controlling  character  of 
our  interest  in  the  idea.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  this  inter- 
est in  the  idea,  in  the  story  to  be  told,  the  thought  to  be 
realized,  is  the  only  basis  for  an  artistic  interest  in  the  tech- 
nique. A  mode  of  expression  separated  from  something  to 
express  is  empty  and  artificial.;  it  is  barren  and  benumbing. 
' '  I  make  this  point  at  the  outset  because  it  seems  to  me  to 
define  both  the  practical  and  the  theoretical  problem  of 
drawing  instruction.  It  is  comparatively  simple  to  abstract 
the  technique,  to  make  command  of  certain  tools,  physical 
and  mental,  the  end  and  aim;  it  is  comparatively  easy  to 
start  from  the  image,  the  story,  and  allow  that  to  find  its 
own  unaided  outlet,  and  under  claim  of  the  superiority  of 
idea  to  technique,  allow  not  simply  a  crude  and  unformed 
result  to  pass — that  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  in  itself — 
but  to  encourage  crude  and  slovenly  habits  of  expression  to 
grow  up — which  is  an  exceedingly  important  matter.  The 
via  media  which  is  such  a  difficult  path  to  find — the  straight 
and  narrow  path  which  makes  for  artistic  righteousness — 
goes  in  neither  of  these  directions,  but  attempts  on  the  one 
hand  to  make  the  interest  in  the  idea,  the  vital  image  to 
extend  itself  to  the  mode  of  conveyance,  to  make  the  entire 
interest  in  technique  a  functional  not  an  isolated  one, 
while  on  the  other  it  recognizes  the  necessity  of  having  the 
mode  of  expression  react  back  into  the  idea,  to  make  it  less 
cloudy,  more  definite,  less  haphazard,  more  accurate,  less 
the  product  of  the  momentary,  undeveloped  interest  and 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  81 

thought,  more  the  outcome  of  mature  reflection  and  com- 
prehensive interest. 

* '  So  much  for  our  practical  problem  in  general.  Now  for 
its  psychological  equivalence.  "What  corresponds  to  idea, 
what  corresponds  to  technique  in  the  natural  psychical 
process;  how  are  these  related  to  each  other;  how  do  they 
interact  in  a  mutally  helpful  way  ?  We  cannot  accept  one 
apparently  simple  way  of  answering  this  question.  We 
cannot  say  that  the  idea  is  imaginative,  is  spiritual;  while 
what  corresponds  to  the  technique  is  physical,  mechanical. 
The  simplicity  of  this  answer  is  at  the  cost  of  reality.  The 
mental  occurrence  which  represents  the  form  or  mode  of 
expression  is  just  as  much  an  image  as  is  the  idea  itself.  It 
is  not  the  problem  of  the  relation  of  a  spiritual  image  to  a 
physical  organ  of  expression,  but  of  one  sort  of  imagery  to 
another.  And  while  this  is  perhaps  an  unusual  putting  of 
the  matter,  we  must  recognize  that  after  all  it  is  because 
the  whole  process  is  one  of  imagery  that  the  problem  is  a 
soluble  one  in  an  educative  sense.  If  one  side,  the  idea, 
were  alone  a  matter  of  the  imagination,  and  the  technique 
were  simply  a  matter  of  delicate  and  accurate  physical 
control  of  the  eye  and  muscle,  we  could  never  get  a  genuine 
harmonizing  of  the  two  factors  in  the  problem;  we  should 
be  compelled  simply  to  alternate  from  one  side  to  the  other 
or  to  make  the  best  compromise  we  could. 

**In  saying  that  the  side  of  technique  is  itself  a  matter 
of  imagery,  I  refer  to  what  the  psychologists  term  motor 
imagery,  and  to  the  well-known  fact  that  imagery  of  all 
kinds  has  a  tendency  to  overflow  in  the  motor  channels,  and 
that  thus  there  is  a  tendency  to  reproduce  through  action 
and  experience,  or  to  put  forth  in  expression  whatever  has 
been  gained  in  impression  and  assimilated  into  an  idea.  I 
refer,  moreover,  to  the  fact  that  such  motor  expression  is  not 
something  done  with  an  idea  already  made  in  the  mind,  but 
is  necessary  to  the  appreciation  of  the  idea  itself,  If  there 
is  one  principle  more  than  another  upon  which  <all  educa- 
tional practice,  not  simply  education  in  art,  must  base  itself 
it  is  precisely  this:  the  realization  of  an  idea  in  action 
through  the  medium  of  movement  is  necessary  to  the  vivid- 


8^  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

ness,  the  definiteness,  the  fullness  of  that  idea  itself.  We 
cannot  speak  of  an  idea  and  its  expression;  the  expression 
is  more  than  a  mode  of  conveying  an  already  formed  idea ; 
it  is  part  and  parcel  of  its  formation.  The  so-called  mechan- 
ical phase  is  necessary  to  the  integrity  of  the  spiritual. 
Education,  like  philosophy,  has  suffered  from  the  idea  that 
thought  is  complete  in  itself,  and  that  action,  the  expression 
of  thought,  is  a  physical  thing.  "We  are  learning  to  know 
that  thought  is  thought  only  in  and  through  action. 

*'Here  we  have  the  natural  psychical  origin  of  drawing, 
as  well  as  of  all  other  forms  of  expression.  There  is  a  nat- 
ural tendency  for  every  image  to  pass  into  movement;  an 
inert  image,  an  image  which  does  not  tend  to  manifest  itself 
through  the  medium  of  action  is  a  non-existence.  In  later 
life,  we  have  learned  to  suppress  so  many  suggestions  to 
action,  and  have  learned  to  delay  the  expression  of  so  many 
others,  that  this  fundamental  law  has  become  somewhat 
obscured,  but  a  study  of  child-life  and  growth  reveals  it  in 
its  purity  and  intensity,  and  reveals  also  that  the  suppres- 
sion of  manifestation  of  an  image  or  delay  in  its  passage 
into  action  is  an  acquired  habit,  a  later  acquisition.  In  the 
early  period,  the  tendency  of  every  image  to  secure  realiza- 
tion for  itself  in  the  medium  of  action  is  witnessed  in  play 
and  in  the  incessantly  urgent  desire  of  the  child  for  con- 
versation; his  impulse  to  tell  everything,  to  communi- 
cate. ...  In  all  these  earlier  reproductive  activities  it  is 
clear  that  there  are  not  two  sides  to  the  child,  an  image  and 
its  expression ;  the  imagejisLC^nly  its  expression,  the  expres- 
sion is  only  the  image  moving,  vitalizing  itself.  The  tech- 
nique is  unconscious ;  it  has  no  separate  value  in  censcious- 
ness.  There  is  no  interest  in  the  how,  distinct  from  the 
wJiat.  .  .  . 

**.  .  .  the  unconsciousness  of  technique  or  the  lack  of 
any  consciousness  of  the  mode  of  doing,  apart  from  what  is 
being  done,  and  the  complete  absorption  of  the  agent  in  his 
action,  we  must  take  with  us  to  the  consideration  of  the 
beginnings  of  instruction  in  artistic  expression  of  a  more 
formal  kind  than  is  play.  Drawing  as  a  development  of 
play  marks,  however,  a  growing  inhibition  or  control.    The 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  83 

wJiole  image  at  first  moves  in  the  whole  organ  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  radiation  or  expansion.  Drawing  marks  the  limita- 
tion to  certain  channels;  moreover  it  is  directed  more  im- 
mediately by  the  eye  image,  not  the  experience  as  a  whole ;  it 
marks  therefore,  relatively  an  analysis.  .  .  .  Drawings  then 
at  first  are  means  of  reinforcing  and  continjiing  some  inter- 
esting life  experience  of  the  child,  through  giving  it  back 
to  the  eye  by  means  of  the  hand.  The  start  must  be 
imaginative,  not  simply  ought  to  be.  Even  in  drawing 
objects  the  child  will  draw  from  his  image,  not  from 
the  object  itself.  There  is  no  road  from  the  object  to 
the  child's  motor  nerves  and  hand,  but  only  from  his  mental 
picture  of  the  object.  The  use  of  the  object  must  be  there- 
fore simple  to  help  the  construction  of  the  image ;  anything 
else  merely  creates  dependence  upon  the  external.  It  not 
only  leads  to  servility,  but  by  disintegrating  imagery  makes 
the  product  mechanical.  Moreover,  the  child  is  interested  in 
objects  simply  from  the  standpoint  of  the  part  they  play 
in  his  life,  their  use,  the  value  they  have  for  him,  not  a^ 
objects,  but  as  factors  in  some  life  scene.  Thus  objects  at 
first  are  seen,  not  so  much  in  terms  of  their  visual  appear- 
ance as  in  terms  of  touch,  because  touch  represents  more 
adequately  the  immediate  experience  values  of  the  object, 
what  can  be  done  directly  with  it,  while  sight  represents 
more  indirect,  and  as  it  were  symbolic  values.  ...  It  is  on 
this  account  that  the  picture,  judged  as  itself  an  object,  is 
so  crude.  It  lacks  proportion,  definiteness  of  spacial  form 
and  structure.  The  child  is  unconscious  of  all  these  defects, 
because  he  sees  not  the  mere  external  product  before  him, 
but  the  whole  mental  picture  which  interests  and  holds  him. 
*  *  Correction  of  this  crudity,  perfection  of  the  picture  con- 
sidered as  an  object  means  the  gradual  development  of  con- 
scious technique — the  power  of  seeing  the  picture  produced 
by  itself  as  it  is  to  the  eye,  not  simply  as  it  is  to  the  whole 
of  experience;  and  the  power  to  control  the  movements  of 
the  hand  and  eye  by  this  visual  picture  as  a  standard.  This 
involves  a  certain  separation  and  abstraction.  The  eye 
activities  and  their  resulting  values,  have  to  be  set  free  from 
their  close  unification  with  the  sense  of  touch.     A  new 


84  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

language,  the  visual  language  has  to  be  substituted  for  the 
visual-touch-aetion  language. 

''Psychologically  what  takes  place  is  a  return  upon  an 
experience  to  see  how  it  occurs,  and  the  reconstruction  of 
that  experience,  the  making  it  over  on  the  basis  of  the 
method  thus  brought  to  consciousness.  The  uniform  law 
is,  first  the  doing ;  then  the  consciousness  of  the  how  of  doing ; 
then  the  return  of  this  mode  into  the  experience  to  enrich 
and  develop  it,  a  fuller,  more  interesting  doing. 

"Hence  we  may  lay  down  with  practical  psychological 
certainty  the  following  principles  regarding  the  relation 
of  technique  to  pictorial  image  in  drawing  instruction.  The 
beginning  must  always  be  with  some  imaginative  free  ex- 
pression in  which  both  the  experience  represented  and  the 
process  of  expression  have  their  own  adequate  value  to  the 
child.  .  .  .  Every  gain  in  technique  must  be  at  once  utilized 
for  a  further  and  richer  imaginative  expression. 

*'It  is  with  reference  to  these  principles  that  current 
methods  of  instruction  in  drawing  would  receive  most 
criticism  from  the  psychologist.  It  is  perhaps  natural  that 
the  drawing  teacher,  the  author  of  text-books  should  be  most 
interested  in  the  production  of  a  good  picture,  viewed  from 
the  standpoint  of  results  or  the  object  as  an  object,  and 
hence  should  isolate  the  technique,  or  method  of  reaching 
such  good  external  products,  fixing  his  attention  upon  that 
to  the  comparative  neglect  of  the  psychical  condition  of  the 
pupil,  or  to  the  conditions  which  will  give  free  play  of 
imagery.  But  those  who  are  interested  in  drawing,  not  as 
an  end  in  itself,  but  because  of  its  place  in  education  as  a 
whole,  must  insist  upon  the  proper  psychological  correlation 
of  this  study;  must  insist  upon  the  function  of  technique, 
as  subordinate  to  imaginative  expression,  and  as  effecting 
the  transition  from  one  such  expression  to  another. 

"The  following  means  of  developing  technique  in  its 
proper  place  may  be  indicated.  First,  foremost  and  all 
the  time:  Incidental  criticism  of  products  of  imaginative 
expression.  The  crude  picture  does  not  adequately  repre- 
sent the  child's  own  image.  It  comes  far  short  in  some 
directions ;  it  distorts  in  others.    Questions  and  suggestions 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  85 

will  bring  the  child  to  realize  the  discrepancy  between  what 
he  meant  to  do,  and  what  he  has  actually  done.  This  makes 
him  turn  around  upon  his  image,  reflect  upon  it,  define  it 
more  accurately,  and  make  him  alert  for  the  differences 
between  false  and  adequate  expression.  When  the  child 
comes  to  have  the  habit  of  looking  at  his  own  products,  of 
comparing  them  with  his  original  image  and  of  criticizing 
one  by  reference  to  the  other  (without  being  unduly  dis- 
couraged and  thus  paralyzed)  the  battle  for  technique  is,  in 
principle,  won.  .  .  .  The  crying  evil  is  the  abstraction  of 
the  technique,  making  it  in  reality  only  a  means  toward  the 
true  end — free  expression — an  end  in  itself."  (John 
Dewey,  Imagination  and  Expression,  Kindergarten  Maga- 
zine, September,  1896,  pp.  61-69.*) 

BEADING 

CusHMAN,  L. — Principles  of  Education  as  Applied  to  Art. 
Elementary  School  Record  No.  1,  University  of  Chicago 
Press. 

Dewey,  John. — Article  on  Art  in  Education.  Encyclo- 
paedia of  Education.    Macmillan. 

Dewey,  John. — Imagination  and  Expression.  Kindergar- 
ten Magazine,  September,  1896. 

Dewey,  John. — Culture  and  Industry  in  Education.  Edu- 
cational Bi-monthly,  October  1,  1906. 

Eggers,  G.  W. — Design  in  tJie  Industrial  Arts.  Educational 
Bi-monthly,  October  1,  1910. 

Rhythmic  and  Musical  Activities. — ^Young  children  enjoy 
activities  which  seem  to  have  no  other  reflex  than  the  pleas- 
ure which  comes  from  the  exercise  of  the  muscles.  This 
pleasure  often  expresses  itself  naturally  in  bodily  rhythms 
such  as  hopping,  skipping,  marching,  and  so  on.  The  aim 
of  work  in  music  is  to  stimulate  these  natural  rhythmic 
activities,  so  as  to  convert  them  into  art  forms  governed  by 
order  or  regularity.  Rhythm,  in  the  art  sense,  is  not  to  be 
thought  of  as  a  mere  mechanical  regularity ;  it  is  the  outer 

*By  permission  Kindergarten-Primary  Magazine. 


86  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

expression  of  an  inner  control,  which,  by  some  subtle  recog- 
nition of  proportion,  expresses  itself  in  rhythmic  cadences. 
In  the  development  of  musical  appreciation  then,  music 
used  as  a  stimulus  to  activity  should  precede  the  passive 
form  of  enjoyment  which  comes  through  listening  to  music. 
The  free  rhythmic  responses  of  the  whole  body  will  grad- 
ually develop  into  various  dance  forms.  If  children  are 
simply  stimulated  by  various  musical  rhythms  which  appeal 
to  them,  and  are  encouraged  to  respond  in  the  manner  most 
natural  to  them,  they  evolve  a  variety  of  original  and  grace- 
ful rhythms.  The  type  of  music  chosen  for  this  initial  work 
should  be  simple,  of  strongly  marked  and  suggestive 
rhythms,  presenting  strong  contrasts.  For  this  reason  folk 
music  is  especially  valuable,  since  it  is  free  from  the  subtle- 
ties of  melody  and  rhythm  characteristic  of  much  of  the 
modern  music.  Vocal  rhythms  may  also  be  developed  into 
chants,  songs  and  the  rhythmic  recitation  of  poetry.  An- 
other provision  for  active  response  to  musical  rhythms, 
requiring  more  control  than  the  bodily  rhythms,  is  the 
accompaniment  of  the  piano  or  other  musical  instruments 
by  instruments  of  percussion  such  as  drums,  cymbals,  cas- 
tanets, and  simple  toy  musical  instruments.  As  children 
progress  in  rhythmic  ability,  it  is  possible  to  develop  a  toy 
orchestra  of  real  musical  value.  In  music  work  developed 
along  these  lines  technique  will  be  supplied  as  it  is  needed 
for  the  proper  advancement  of  musical  ability;  the  tech- 
nique is  developed  out  of  the  subject,  instead  of  the  music 
out  of  the  technique,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case  in  music 
study.  As  the  children  are  encouraged  to  express  their 
thoughts  and  feelings  freely  in  musical  form  in  the  course 
of  the  work  many  original  songs  and  dances  should  emerge. 
This  free  expression  of  musical  experiences  by  move- 
ments, and  the  composing  of  dances  and  songs,  makes  a  safe 
foundation  for  ear  training  of  a  more  detailed  and  delib- 
erate character.  By  means  of  it  children  may  be  led  con- 
sciously to  listen  with  enjoyment  to  what  a  composer  has 
written,  to  understand  and  appreciate  it,  and  finally  into 
the  analytic  study  of  music. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  87 

READING 

Hall,  G.  Stanley. — The  Psychology  of  Music.  Addresses 
and  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Associa- 
tion, 1908. 

Hayward,  F.  H. — The  Lesson  in  Appreciation.    Macmillan. 

Kern,  M.  R. — Elementary  Music  Teaching  in  the  Labora- 
tory School  II.  Elementary  School  Teacher,  Septem- 
ber, 1903. 

Kern,  M.  R. — Song  Composition.  Elementary  School  Rec- 
ord, No.  2. 

MacPherson,  Stewart,  and  Read,  Ernest. — Aural  Cul- 
ture Based  upon  Musical  Appreciation.  Part  I,  Ap- 
pendix.   Boston  Music  Co. 

The  School  Festival. — The  sense  of  the  social  value  of  art 
should  be  restored  by  the  school.  Any  group  activity  of  a 
joyous  character  celebrating  some  event  or  fact  of  common 
value  is  the  natural  soil  of  artistic  creation.  A  significant 
characteristic  of  the  arts  in  their  earlier  form  was  the 
predominance  of  the  festal  element.  Tribal  episodes  or 
traditions  were  perpetuated  by  community  celebrations  in 
which  music,  poetry,  the  dance  and  dramatic  representation 
were  appropriately  united.  Our  holiday  celebrations  are 
pitiful  survivals  of  these  tribal  celebrations  in  a  modem 
work-a-day  world  which  has  forgotten  the  intimate  connec- 
tion between  play  and  art.  In  school  we  should  restore  the 
festal  element  to  art.  Festal  celebrations  of  holidays 
worked  out  as  group  projects,  and  embodying  in  some  con- 
crete form  the  common  expression  of  the  group,  and  ex- 
pressed in  a  form  appealing  to  the  group  as  a  whole,  might 
do  much  to  restore  a  sense  of  the  art  value  to  the  barren, 
unimaginative  celebrations  by  which  we  at  present  mark 
our  festal  days.  *'What  we  have  failed  to  recognize  ade- 
quately in  our  education  is  just  this  educative  power  of 
joy.  And  what  we  lack  in  our  schools  we  lack  also  in  our 
life — the  joy  of  refined  and  edifying  leisure  activities ;  such 
joy  as  was  expressed  in  the  folk  festivals  of  the  past  through 
folk  song,  folk  dance,  folk  drama,  and  folk  ritual ;  such  joy 
as  expresses  itself  for  the  little  child  in  the  folk  play  of  the 


88  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

nursery,  with  its  incomparable  charm  and  gaiety  in  song, 
dance,  drama,  and  ceremonial.  These  are  perishing  to- 
gether. Unless  the  school  and  the  public  playground,  the 
settlement  and  recreation  center,  can  restore  this  joy  of  self- 
activity  and  ingenious  play,  there  is  little  prospect  that  it 
will  be  restored  to  us  in  any  other  way.  .  .  . 

* '  This  defect  in  our  school  life,  a^  in  our  social  life,  that 
it  communicates  no  quickening  sense  of  the  poetry  and 
adventurousness  of  life,  is  inseparably  bound  up  with  its 
neglect  of  the  emotions.  Our  education  runs  to  brain  and 
starves  the  feelings;  true,  it  strives  more  and  more  to  in- 
volve the  hand  in  the  educational  process ;  but  it  slights  the 
heart,  the  imagination,  and  the  creative  and  dramatic 
nature  of  the  child.  These,  too,  must  be  nurtured  by 
'doing,'  by  calling  into  activity  the  natural  impulses  out 
of  which  play  and  art  have  developed  in  the  past.  .  .  . 

*  *  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that,  after  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  overwork,  which  have  left  their  deep  furrows  of 
joylessness  and  premature  age  upon  so  many  of  our  native- 
bom  people  in  town  and  country — and  especially  upon  the 
farmer  folk  of  the  country — the  American  people  may  be 
rejuvenated  by  a  return  to  the  slighted  arts  of  play?  We 
may  explain  and  excuse  our  lapse  from  virtue  in  this 
respect;  but  we  cannot  and  must  not  allow  it  to  continue, 
for  it  precludes  our  humanization.  We  may  wish  to  speak 
a  word  of  apology  for  the  harsh  Puritanism  which  spread 
its  blight  over  innocent  amusements  and  banished  the  Yule- 
log  and  the  May-pole;  we  may  also  plead  excuse  for  our- 
selves by  magnifying  the  vast,  grim  task  to  which  we  have 
had  to  put  our  hands ;  the  task  of  taming  and  clearing  an 
immense  continent,  making  its  roads  and  bridges,  its  tun- 
nels and  canals,  its  homesteads  and  cities,  and  of  caring  for 
its  ceaseless  procession  of  immigrants.  Very  well;  but  we 
must  face  frankly  some  of  the  actual  consequences  of  these 
many  decades  of  sobering  toil.  One  consequence  is  that  a 
great,  perhaps  the  greater,  number  of  our  people  are  in- 
capable of  fruitful  leisure,  and  bankrupt  of  the  recreative, 
restorative  activities  of  leisure.  Visit  a  church  sociable 
when  the  good  townspeople  sit  helplessly  around;  visit  a 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  89 

children's  party  where  the  little  ones  wait  restlessly  for  the 
ice-cream  and  cake ;  visit  a  Fourth  of  July  picnic,  or  roam 
the  streets  of  a  town  in  the  evening  of  Labor  Day,  Election 
Day,  or  (lowest  depth  of  all)  New  Year's  Eve,  and  what  a 
pitiful  spectacle  of  recreational  ineptitude  we  have  to 
reckon  with ! 

*'It  is  high  time  to  recognize  that  under  the  tyranny  of 
industrial  forces  which  we  have  not  learned  to  control  to 
reasonable  human  service,  and  under  the  temptation  to 
devote  ourselves  to  the  feverish  accumulation  of  money,  we 
have  forsaken  the  fairer  paths  of  human  culture.  We  must 
return.  We  must  recover  for  ourselves  the  lost  aptitudes 
of  the  humanizing  arts  of  life,  the  song  and  balladry,  the 
m^umming  and  minstrelsy,  the  dancing  and  revelry,  the 
ritual  and  pageantry,  which  through  the  ages,  until  we 
yoked  ourselves  to  the  steam  juggernaut  of  factory  indus- 
try, were  sources  of  life  and  health  and  growth  to  the  peoples 
and  the  folk  of  the  world,  and  have  left  a  rich  heritage  of 
folk  art  which  has  been  fast  perishing.  .  .  .'*  (P.  Chubb, 
Festivals  and  PlaySy  Introduction,  pp.  xix-xxii.*) 

**The  festival  becomes  a  means  of  moral  education 
through  its  promotion  of  what  may  be  called  the  three 
pieties,  or  three  forms  of  reverence,  to  which  it  may  make 
appeal.  The  first  of  these  we  may  name  natural  piety, 
meaning  thereby  a  feeling  for  the  ordered  and  rhythmical 
life  of  nature,  that  sense  of  universal  and  cosmic  law  ruling 
our  lives  which  is  hinted  at  in  the  largest  way  by  the 
sequence  of  seasons,  the  life  and  death  and  rebirth  of  the 
Power  behind  our  human  life.  This  should  carry  with  it 
a  sense  of  our  human  dependence  upon  the  majestic  laws 
which  rule  Nature,  reinforced  by  the  admiring  and  wonder- 
ing sense  of  the  beauty  and  bounty  of  the  earth  as  an 
expression  of  this  life  and  law.  It  is  in  this  natural  piety 
that  the  great  historic  festivals  of  the  past  had  their  origin ; 
and  in  such  expressions  of  it  as  are  to  be  found  in  the  lovely 
story  of  Demeter  and  Persephone  we  have  a  classic  theme 
which  is  still  fresh  and  pertinent,  the  poetic  appeal  of 
which  can  scarcely  be  exhausted  by  festival  uses. 

*By  permission  Harper  &  Bros.    Copyright  1912. 


90  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

'Massing  from  this  to  the  second  form  of  piety,  which  we 
may  call  human  piety,  we  have  a  form  of  moral  emotion 
which  is  still  rudimentary  in  its  development.  By  this 
human  piety  is  meant  primarily  man's  sense  of  his 
indebtedness  to  man  in  the  past,  begotten  in  him  by  a 
recognition  of  the  great  drama  of  man's  slow,  painful,  and 
baffled  efforts  to  advance  in  the  conquest  not  only  of  nature, 
but  of  truth  and  justice.  It  is  the  idea  which  should  be 
the  underlying  conception  in  our  teaching  of  history,  which 
to  be  fruitful  in  its  influence  must  be  conceived  of  as  a  great 
epic  of  human  progress.  .  .  . 

^'Thirdly,  we  have  what  may  be  distinguished  from 
human  piety  in  general  as  institutional  piety — that  is  to 
say,  intelligent  reverence  for  the  means  whereby  man  has 
expressed  his  social  nature  in  the  institutions,  customs,  and 
laws  of  civilized  life."  (P.  Chubb,  Festivals  and  Plays, 
pp.  17-19.*) 

The  differentiation  of  the  arts  into  special  forms — paint- 
ing, music,  dancing,  sculpture  and  the  like — ^has  tended  to 
make  of  them  mere  accomplishments,  useful  in  social  life 
only  in  special  and  isolated  instances.  The  union  of  the 
arts  in  a  conunon  social  purpose  would  do  much  to  restore 
appreciation  of  the  arts  as  a  wholesome  and  invigorating 
force  in  elevating  social  life.  One  of  the  baleful  effects  upon 
art  of  our  modern  industrial  period  has  been  the  separation 
in  thought  between  the  useful  and  the  beautiful,  whereby 
the  useful  has  become  debased  to  the  level  of  the  vulgar, 
and  the  beautiful  has  been  synonymous  with  the  useless. 
Festal  celebrations  affording  as  they  do  opportunity  for 
constructive  work  of  various  kinds  in  connection  with  an 
art  production — the  making  of  costumes,  of  scenery  and  the 
like,  offer  a  valuable  illustration  of  the  essential  union  of 
the  useful  and  the  beautiful.  Such  a  union  gives  vitality 
to  the  art  work  and  depth  and  richness  to  the  other  work 
involved.  Altogether  the  festival  represents  an  opportunity 
for  associative  action  on  the  highest  level,  combining  as  it 
may  significant  historical,  social,  and  art  values. 

*B7  permission  Harper  &  Bros.    Copyright  1912, 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  91 

READING 

Brown,  G.  Baldwin. — The  Fine  Arts.    Scribner. 
Chubb,  Percival. — Festivals  and  Plays.    Harper. 

To  recapitulate — the  value  of  art  for  education  lies 
fundamentally  not  in  facility  in  various  techniques,  but  in 
the  fact  that  children  through  significant  experiences  which 
find  their  satisfaction  in  a  variety  of  expressions,  get  a 
sense  of  the  ideal  characteristics  of  art — balance,  harmony, 
rhythm — as  factors  in  life.  If  children  are  to  get  a  sense 
of  art  in  its  relation  to  life  they  must  experience  it  in  as 
many  ways  as  possible — through  creating  songs,  plays, 
poems,  stories  and  dances.  If  all  of  these  activities  are 
frequently  gathered  up  in  the  joyous  celebration  of  some 
event  of  value  to  the  children,  we  have  work  undertaken  in 
the  spirit  of  play,  and  play  animated  by  the  spirit  of  art. 

Linguistic  Activities. — The  horizon  of  personal  experi- 
ence is  narrow  and  most  of  the  world  lies  beyond  it.  Since 
a  large  part  of  our  experience  has  to  be  got  vicariously  from 
the  reports  of  others,  the  means  by  which  the  experience  of 
each  person  can  be  made  to  contribute  to  that  of  every  other 
becomes  of  vital  importance  to  education.  Language,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  social  in  its  origin  and  is  an  important  factor 
in  developing  social  life.  We  cannot  imagine  a  clearly- 
articulated  social  order  without  language.  Under  the  tra- 
ditional school  regime  the  ordinary  means  of  language 
development  is  by  means  of  the  recitation.  When  the 
recitation  consists  in  the  testimony  of  memorized  facts  in 
various  subjects,  the  communication  of  ideas  breaks  the 
moral  code  of  the  school ;  but  when  the  class  is  considered  as 
a  community,  the  use  of  language  as  a  means  of  communi- 
cation is  sanctioned  and  encouraged.  ''Under  the  old 
regime  it  was  unquestionably  a  most  serious  problem  to  give 
the  children  a  full  and  free  use  of  language.  The  reason 
was  obvious.  The  natural  motive  for  language  was  seldom 
offered.  In  the  pedagogical  textbooks  language  is  defined 
as  the  medium  of  expressing  thought.  It  becomes  that, 
more  or  less,  to  adults  with  trained  minds,  but  it  hardly 


92  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

needs  to  be  said  that  language  is  primarily  a  social  thing, 
a  means  by  which  we  give  our  experience  to  others  and  get 
theirs  again  in  return. .  When  it  is  taken  away  from  its 
natural  purpose,  it  is  no  wonder  that  it  becomes  a  complex 
and  difficult  problem  to  teach  language.     Think  of  the 
absurdity  of  having  to  teach  language  as  a  thing  by  itself ! 
If  there  is  anything  a  child  will  do  before  he  goes  to  school 
it  is  to  talk  of  the  things  that  interest  him.    But  when  there 
are  no  vital  interests  appealed  to  in  the  school,  when  the 
language  used  is  simply  for  the  repetition  of  lessons,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  one  of  the  chief  difficulties  of  school 
work  has   come  to  be  instruction  in  the  mother-tongue. 
Since  the  language  taught  is  unnatural,  not  growing  out  of 
the  real  desire  to  communicate  vital  impressions  and  con- 
victions, the  freedom  of  children  in  its  use  gradually  disap- 
pears until  finally  the  high-school  teacher  has  to  invent  all 
kinds  of  devices  to  assist  in  getting  any  spontaneous  and 
full  use  of  speech.    Moreover,  when  the  language  instinct 
is  appealed  to  in  a  social  way,  there  is  continual  contact 
with  reality.    The  result  is  that  the  child  always  has  some- 
thing in  his  mind  to  talk  about,  he  has  something  to  say ;  he 
has  a  thought  to. express,  and  a  thought  is  not  a  thought 
unless  it  is  one's  own.    On  the  traditional  method  the  child 
must  say  something  that  he  has  merely  learned.    There  is 
all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  having  something  to 
say  and  having  to  say  something.     The  child  who  has  a 
variety  of  materials  and  facts  wants  to  talk  about  them, 
and  his  language  becomes  more  refined  and  full,  because  it 
is  controlled  and  informed  by  realities.    Reading  and  writ- 
ing, as  well  as  the  oral  use  of  language  may  be  taught  on 
this  basis.     It  can  be  done  in  a  related  way,  as  the  out- 
growth of  the  child 's  social  desire  to  recount  his  experiences 
and  get  in  return  the  experiences  of  others,  directed  always 
through  contact  with  the  facts  and  forces  which  determine 
the  truth  communicated.''     (John  Dewey,  The  School  and 
Society,  pp.  49-50.*)     Nothing  but  experience  can  enable 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1900  "by 
The  University  of  Chicago.  Copyright  1900  and  1915  by  John 
Dewey. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  93 

us  to  invest  words  with  meaning.  Work  in  gardens,  shops, 
laboratories,  walks  and  excursions,  related  home  experiences 
— in  fact  any  experiences  may  be  regarded  as  supplying  the 
*  stuff  of  communicable  thought  and  therefore  as  having  a 
direct  bearing  upon  language  development.  Experience 
furnishes  the  broad  perceptual  basis  upon  which  verbal 
knowledge  may  safely  be  based.  When  children  have  a 
varied  background  of  acquaintance  with  realities,  verbal 
knowledge  comes,  as  it  should,  as  an  extension  of  inter- 
pretation and  ef  experience,  not  as  a  substitute  for  it.  It 
is  the  task  of  the  teacher  to  seize  upon  every  occasion  in 
which  expression  in  speech  is  urgent  and  gratifying  and 
make  the  most  of  it  as  an  educational  opportunity.  This 
means  that  most  of  the  language  work  with  young  children 
will  be  incidental  and  haphazard,  consisting  mainly  of  a 
spontaneous  and  natural  interchange  of  ideas.  If  the  con- 
ditions of  the  school  room  are  properly  set — I  mean  if  they 
permit  of  social  life — this  situation  takes  care  of  itself,  and 
needs  only  the  seeing  eye  and  the  guiding  hand  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher.  **The  significant  thing  is  that  it  is 
possible  for  the  child  at  an  early  day  to  become  acquainted 
with  and  to  use  in  a  personal,  yet  relatively  controlled 
fashion,  the  methods  by  which  truth  is  discovered  and  com- 
municated, and  to  make  his  own  speech  a  channel  for  the 
expression  and  communication  of  truth ;  thus  putting  the 
linguistic  side  where  it  belongs — subordinate  to  the  appro- 
priation and  conveyance  of  what  is  genuinely  and  person- 
ally experienced."  (John  Dewey,  The  Primary  Education 
Fetish,  The  Forum,  May,  1898,  p.  318.) 

If  our  aim  is  to  prepare  future  members  of  society,  every- 
thing within  the  school  must  be  regulated  in  accordance 
with  this  aim.  The  present  recitation  scheme  is  anti-social. 
It  encourages  competition  and  places  a  ban  upon  coopera- 
tion. When  the  class  is  organized  as  a  community,  how- 
ever, it  is  possible  by  means  of  discussions  to  convert  the 
natural  interchange  of  thought  resulting  from  this  condi- 
tion  into  a  more  definite  means  of  interstimulation  and 
response  which  makes  language  the  cement  of  social  organ- 
ization.   A  group  of  children  working  along  common  lines, 


94  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

where  the  means  exists  for  gathering  together  their  ideas 
and  organizing  them  through  discussions,  will  evolve  a  col- 
lective knowledge  of  great  value.  When  the  experiences  of 
the  several  children  are  pooled  in  this  way  and  subjected  to 
the  test  of  critical  examination  and  interpretation,  errors 
are  weeded  out  and  a  body  of  tested  knowledge  is  gradually 
built  up.  The  reflex  of  this  method  of  work  upon  thinking 
is  very  great.  The  thought  processes  of  one  child  are  refined 
and  corrected  in  a  very  salutary  way  when  constantly 
checked  up  by  the  facts  and  suggestions  of  other  children. 
Unfounded  opinions  give  way  in  favor  of  those  which  are 
supported  by  facts.  Moreover  these  discussions  afford  the 
teacher  an  excellent  opportunity  to  gauge  the  mental  and 
social  development  of  her  group  and  to  supply  suggestions 
that  will  arouse  desirable  responses.  The  total  effect  of 
such  work  is  the  development  of  a  wholesome  public  opinion 
and  a  strong  community  solidarity  which  may  be  made  an 
effective  force  in  fostering  the  growth  of  the  social  spirit. 

The  question  of  language  affects  very  closely  the  matter 
of  the  communication  of  information  by  the  teacher  or  by 
means  of  books.  It  is  necessary  for  the  teacher  always  to 
have  in  mind  a  clear-cut  conception  of  the  particular 
function  of  information  in  a  plan  of  education  in  which 
activities  form  the  central  role.  The  problem  concerns 
itself  with  adjusting  more  abstract  and  remote  experience 
to  that  which  is  vital  and  personal.  **Many  questions  of 
instruction  are  bound  up  also  with  the  matter  of  the  rela- 
tion of  information  or  communicated  knowledge,  to  per- 
sonal acquaintance.  A  flavor  of  the  second-hand,  derived, 
and  more  or  less  conventional  hangs  about  information.  Its 
subject-matter  is  not  so  vitally  lived  through,  so  intimately 
appreciated,  as  that  of  familiar  acquaintance.  Any  exam- 
ination of  prevailing  modes  of  instruction  will  show  that 
the  mere  bulk  of  matter  communicated  in  books  and 
lectures  tends  to  swamp  the  native  and  active  interests 
operative  in  intelligent  behavior  and  in  the  acquaintance- 
ship it  brings.  Then  this  matter  remains  unassimilated, 
unorganized,  not  really  understood.  It  stands  on  a  dead 
level,  hostile  to  the  selective  arrangements  characteristic  of 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  95 

thinking,  matter  for  memorizing  rather  than  for  judgment, 
existing  as  verbal  symbols  to  be  mechanically  manipulated 
rather  than  genuine  realities,  intelligently  appreciated. 
Yet  without  this  communicated  matter  the  circle  of  personal 
acquaintance  is  very  narrow  and  superficial,  and  personal 
activity  hardly  gets  above  the  place  of  routine.  The  solu- 
tion is  found  in  realizing  that  social  communication  is  a 
very  real  factor  in  personal  doing  and  acquaintance.  The 
educational  aim  is  not  to  multiply  information  for  the 
sake  of  information,  nor  yet  to  try  to  exclude  it  or  narrow 
it  down  as  much  as  possible.  It  is  to  fuse  the  transmitted 
matter  and  the  matter  of  direct  behavior  and  emotional 
response  with  as  intimate  union  as  possible  so  that  the 
former  will  gain  force,  vivacity,  directness  from  the  latter, 
while  the  former  is  insensibly  but  continually  extended  and 
deepened  by  the  latter.  In  short,  the  common  error  does 
not  consist  in  attaching  too  great  importance  to  trans- 
mitted facts  and  ideas,  but  in  presenting  them  in  such  an 
isolated  way  that  they  are  not  spontaneously  welded  with 
the  intense,  though  narrow  matters  of  direct  concern." 
(John  Dewey,  Knowledge,  Cyclopsedia  of  Education,  p. 
613.*) 

**When  considered  in  its  relation  to  experience,  informa- 
tion becomes  a  valuable,  indeed,  an  indispensable,  tool  in 
expanding  experience.  Activities  are  not  educational  ends ; 
they  are  only  means.  It  is  only  when  activities  are  oriented 
by  a  liberal  scheme  of  related  subject-matter  that  they  arise 
above  the  level  of  training  and  become  really  educative. 
'How. shall  we  treat  the  subject-matter  supplied  by  text 
book  and  teacher  so  that  it  shall  rank  as  material  for  reflect- 
ive inquiry,  not  as  ready-made  pabulum  to  be  accepted  and 
swallowed  just  as  supplied  by  the  store?' 

**In  reply  to  this  question  we  may  say  (1)  that  the  com- 
munication of  material  should  be  needed.  That  is  to  say, 
it  should  be  such  as  cannot  readily  be  attained  by  personal 
observation.  For  teacher  or  book  to  cram  pupils  with  facts 
which,  with  little  more  trouble,  they  could  discover  by 
direct  inquiry,  is  to  violate  their  intellectual  integrity  by 

*By  permission  The  Macmillan  Co.    Copyright  1911. 


96  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

cultivating  mental  servility.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
material  supplied  through  communication  of  others  should 
be  meager  or  scanty.  With  the  utmost  range  of  the  senses, 
the  world  of  nature  and  history  stretches  out  almost 
infinitely  beyond.  But  the  fields  within  which  direct  obser- 
vation is  feasible  should  be  carefully  chosen  and  sacredly 
protected. 

*^(II)  Material  should  be  supplied  by  way  of  stimulus, 
not  with  dogmatic  finality  and  rigidity.  When  pupils  get 
the  notion  that  any  field  of  study  has  been  definitely  sur- 
veyed, that  knowledge  about  it  is  exhaustive  and  final,  they 
may  continue  docile  pupils,  but  they  cease^to  be  students. 
All  thinking  whatsoever — so  be  it  is  thinking — contains  a 
phase  of  originality.  This  originality  does  not  imply  that 
the  student's  conclusion  varies  from  the  conclusions  of 
others,  much  less  that  it  is  a  radically  novel  conclusion.  His 
originality  is  not  incompatible  with  large  use  of  materials 
and  suggestions  contributed  by  others.  Originality  means 
personal  interest  in  the  question,  personal  initiative  in  turn- 
ing over  the  suggestions  furnished  by  others  and  sincerity 
in  following  them  out  to  a  tested  conclusion.  Literally,  the 
phrase  *  Think  for  yourself, '  is  tautological ;  any  thinking  is 
thinking  for  one's  self. 

**(III)  The  material  furnished  by  way  of  information 
should  be  relevant  to  a  question  that  is  vital  in  the  student 's 
own  experience.  What  has  been  said  about  the  evil  of 
observations  that  begin  and  end  in  themselves  may  be 
transferred  without  change  to  communicated  learning.  In- 
struction in  subject-matter  that  does  not  fit  into  any  prob- 
lem already  stirring  in  the  student's  own  experience,  or 
that  is  not  presented  in  such  a  way  as  to  arouse  a  problem, 
is  worse  than  useless  for  intellectual  purposes.  In  that  it 
fails  to  enter  into  any  process  of  reflection,  it  is  useless ;  in 
that  it  remains  in  the  mind  as  so  much  lumber  and  debris, 
it  is  a  barrier,  an  obstruction  in  the  way  of  effective  think- 
ing when  a  problem  arises."  (John  Dewey,  How  We 
Think,  pp.  197-199.*) 

Information  which  simply  rehearses  experiences  already 

*By  permission  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.     Copyright  1910. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  07 

had  should  therefore  be  used  with  discretion.  If  a  child 
has  had  a  vivid  first-hand  set  of  experiences,  normally  his 
own  memory  should  be  vigorous  enough  to  recall  the  images 
in  their  proper  sequence.  An  over-use  of  such  recall  in 
verbal  form  is  either  stultifying  or  boring.  However, 
occasionally,  as  a  stimulus  to  a  hazy  memory,  it  may  be  of 
value  to  recall  facts  in  their  proper  order.  The  great  func- 
tional value  of  information  is,  however,  not  repetition  of 
experience  but  interpretation  of  it.  An  isolated  fact  is 
without  meaning.  One  does  not  understand  anything  unless 
one  understands  the  relationships  involved  in  that  thing, 
and  conversely  to  see  a  fact  in  its  setting  of  implied  rela- 
tionships is  to  throw  a  flood  of  illuminating  light  upon  it 
and  invest  it  with  meaning.  The  best  equipped  and  ready- 
working  mind  is  the  one  which  sees  deepest  and  furthest 
into  relationships.  With  young  children  the  problem  of 
information  will  be  concerned  mainly  with  making  explicit 
the  relationships  involved  in  the  child's  own  familiar  world, 
thus  giving  him  a  sense  of  the  values  bound  up  in  it,  but 
care  should  be  taken  even  in  this  early  period  not  to  limit 
the  matter  of  information  too  strictly  to  what  is  known  and 
familiar.  Eealization  of  relationships  develops  directly  by 
a  process  of  comparison.  "We  do  not  know  the  here  and  now 
until  we  know  the  distant  and  past.  Information  may  there- 
fore present  facts  relating  to  matters  at  a  distance  which 
throw  familiar  things  into  sharp  contrast,  thus  bringing  to 
the  child's  mind  the  conception  that  events  are  the  result 
of  a  certain  set  of  conditions,  and  vary  with  those  condi- 
tions. It  may  present  related  material  from  past  history, 
thus  giving  the  contrast  due  to  development  through  time. 
It  might  emphasize  the  interdependence  of  things  by  setting 
up  a  hypothetical  case  in  which  a  certain  factor  of  present 
day  life  is  lacking,  and  allow  the  child  to  determine  the 
result  that  would  follow.  It  might  bring  out  relationships 
in  the  present  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  up  their  inadequacy 
because  of  certain  unsatisfactory  conditions  and  allow  him 
to  hazard  a  suggestion  as  to  how  they  might  be  improved. 
In  fact  any  interpretation  of  experience  which  focusses  the 
attention  of  the  child  upon  the  processes  of  experience  is 


98  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

within  the  province  of  information  as  an  educational  tool. 
If  such  information  given  by  the  teacher  not  only  answers 
inquiries  arising  from  experience,  but  suggests  others  as  the 
logical  next  step  to  those  which  they  have  answered  and 
gives  them  to  the  child  to  take  back  and  answer  by  further 
investigation  and  experimentation  in  his  own  experience, 
the  gap  between  real  and  second-hand  experience  is  bridged 
and  information  becomes  vital  and  suffused  with  emotional 
warmth.  The  fundamental  consideration  in  the  whole 
matter  is  that  familiar  first-hand  experience  is  not  an  end, 
it  is  only  a  means,  and  the  child  must  be  led  out  from  it  by 
constant  additions  in  one  form  or  another  through  informa- 
tion. In  a  scientific  pedagogy  of  which  the  general  aim  is 
to  develop  the  child's  sense  of  relationships,  information 
may  gradually  lead  the  child  to  perceive  the  network  of 
relationships  underlying  the  apparently  disconnected  parts 
composing  the  world  of  man  and  nature. 

What  has  been  said  above  with  regard  to  information 
applies  not  only  to  that  given  verbally  by  the  teacher,  but 
also  to  information  from  books  read  to  the  children  by  the 
teacher  or  to  be  read  by  the  children  themselves  when  they 
have  mastered  the  symbols.  At  present,  owing  to  the  gen- 
erally prevailing  faulty  knowledge  of  child  nature  due  to 
the  late  development  of  psychology  as  an  objective  science, 
it  is  difficult  to  find  suitable  information  books  to  be  used 
by  children.  Most  of  those  available  are  either  drably 
didactic,  developed  along  the  logical  lines  of  adult  reasoning 
and  therefore  giving  solutions  to  problems,  not  stimulating 
thought,  or  else  they  attempt  to  conceal  the  bitter  morsel  of 
information  to  be  conveyed  in  a  sugar  coating  of  story  form, 
— a  device  unnecessarily  confusing  and  therefore  irritating 
to  a  child  on  a  serious  quest  for  information.  "What  is 
needed  is  a  kind  of  information  material  which  applies  the 
newer  ideas  of  the  psychology  of  childhood.  One  of  the 
educational  contributions  of  experimentally  conducted 
schools  will  no  doubt  be  a  new  type  of  information  books 
which  have  been  tested  out  in  actual  experience  with  chil- 
dren. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  99 

READING 
Chubb,  P. — The  Teaching  of  English.    Macmillan. 

Chap.     II.  The  Limitations  of  the  School  in  deal- 
ing with  Illiteracy. 
Chap.  III.  Early  Formative  Phases. 
Dewey,  John. — How  We  Think.    Heath. 

Chap.  XIII.  Language     and     the     Training     of 

Thought. 
Chap.  XIV.  Observation  and  Information  in  the 

Training  of  Mind. 
Chap.     XV.  The  Recitation  and  the  Training  of 
Thought. 
Leonard,  S.  A. — English  Composition  as  a  Social  Problem. 
Houghton. 

Chap.    I.  The  Sources  of  Composition  Projects  in 

Child-Activities. 
Chap.  II.  The  Social  Group  as  an  Agent  in  Ex- 
pressional  Standards. 

Composition. — The  early  stage  of  children's  language 
development  might  be  called  the  stage  of  unconscious  tech- 
nique. The  stories  told  spontaneously  by  children  are  very 
revealing  as  an  index  of  childish  interest  and  understand- 
ing, and  much  more  should  be  made  of  them  than  is  at 
present  by  schools  as  valuable  contributions  to  child  psy- 
chology. These  stories  form  the  natural  first  step  in  oral 
composition  and  by  skilful  treatment  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  they  may  be  made  a  fruitful  means  of  clarifying 
thought  processes.  If  story-telling  is  made  a  really  social 
experience,  each  child's  contribution  is  tested  by  his  ability 
to  get  his  story  over  to  his  audience,  and  this  is  a  very 
efficient  means  of  improving  the  organization  of  thought 
and  the  use  of  appropriate  language.  The  development  of 
power  on  the  part  of  the  group  to  analyze  the  performance 
of  a  child,  and  to  evaluate  its  elements  constitute  an  excel- 
lent discipline  of  their  judgment. 

What  has  already  been  said  under  Linguistic  Activities 
applies  not  only  to  the  early  stage  of  language  development 
but  offers  certain  underlying  principles  guiding  the  devel- 


100  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

opment  of  language  expression  of  older  children.  Creative 
power  in  language,  as  in  other  fields,  can  be  fostered  only 
by  providing  an  environment  which  encourages  it.  The 
necessity  for  a  full,  rich  experience  cannot  be  too  strongly 
emphasized  in  its  effect  upon  language  development. 
Originality,  spontaneity,  and  invention  are  impossible  with- 
out a  varied  and  well-assimilated  experience.  Actual 
experiences  lead  naturally  to  imaginative  interpretations; 
what  the  child  takes  in  will  find  its  way  out  in  the  form  of 
language  expression  whenever  such  expression  is  appro- 
priate. In  a  school  environment  so  organized  that  the 
channels  of  expression  and  communication  are  kept  wide 
open,  there  are  innumerable  occasions  calling  for  expression 
in  language  either  verbal  or  written. 

With  increasing  maturity  and  the  corresponding  increase 
of  the  span  of  attention  and  interest,  the  child's  original 
psychical  impulse  to  expression  may  be  expanded  and 
organized  in  various  ways.  The  main  thing  is  that  the 
forms  of  expression  shall  always  be  those  which  appeal  to 
the  child  as  having  real  value,  as  being  really  worth  while. 
It  is  only  when  children's  expression  is  undertaken  with  a 
clearly  recognized  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  child  that  we 
can  hope  to  escape  from  those  elaborate  productions  of  in- 
sincerity that  pass  for  compositions  in  so  many  schools.  It 
is  in  the  development  of  the  expressional  powers  of  children 
so  that  expression  liberates  and  vivifies  thought  that  the 
utmost  ability  of  the  teacher  is  required.  For  just  as  undue 
and  premature  attention  to  form  tends  to  inhibit  thought 
and  render  it  sterile,  so  because  of  the  mutually  interactive 
nature  of  thought  and  expression,  insufficient  attention  to 
technique  tends  equally  to  arrest  thought,  leaving  it  vague 
and  hazy.  The  task  of  the  school  is  so  to  modify  the  speech 
habits  of  children  that  their  language,  while  retaining  the 
force,  vitality  and  variety  of  spontaneous  expression,  yet 
becomes  a  more  and  more  flexible  and  delicately  adjusted 
instrument  of  thought.  On  the  expression  side  this  means 
rendering  language  more  precise  and  accurate;  on  the 
thought  side  it  means  the  formation  of  habits  of  consecutive 
discourse  involving  the  proper  organization  of  thought. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  101 


BEADING 

Chubb,  P. — The  Teaching  of  English,  Macmillan. 

Chap.  VIII.  Composition,  Oral  and  Written,  in 
the  Primary  Grades. 
Cooke,  H.  C.—The  Plaij  Way,  Stokes. 
Chap.  IV.  Littlemen  Lectures. 
Chap.    V.  Ilonds  and  Chap  Books. 
Chap.  IX.  Plaj^making. 
Cooke,  H.  C.—The  Perse  PUy  Boohs,  I-V,  W.  Heffer  &  Son, 

Cambridge,  England. 
Leonard,  S.  A. — Composition  as  a  Social  Problem,  Hough- 
ton. 

Chap.  III.  Organization  of  Ideas. 
Chap.    IV.  Evolution  and  Attainment  of  Expres- 
sional  Standards. 

Literature. — Literature  is  an  art.  In  order  that  it  may 
have  an  art  value  in  the  school  it  is  necessary  that  it  be 
presented  in  a  way  consistent  v^^ith  the  general  principles 
of  art.  Literature  as  an  art  is  the  expression  in  language 
of  man's  thoughts  and  feelings;  it  records  his  hopes  and 
fears,  his  highest  aspirations  and  his  deepest  despair.  It 
records  truth,  but  truth  colored  or  interpreted  by  personal 
appreciation  and  emotion.  The  material  of  literature  is 
that  of  the  actual  world  selected,  freed  from  the  tem- 
porary and  accidental,  and  expressed  in  a  suitable  art 
setting.  It  is  the  projecting  and  refining,  by  means  of 
the  imagination  of  such  experiences  as  man  has  had;  in 
short,  it  is  experience  idealized  in  one  way  or  another. 
This  view  of  literature  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  its  use 
in  the  schoolroom.  In  the  first  place,  it  means  that  litera- 
ture should  not  be  employed  as  a  point  of  departure  for 
instruction.  It  should  represent,  on  the  contrary,  the 
gathering  together  of  experience  into  a  vivid  and  idealized 
form  through  the  meflium  of  feeling  and  the  imagination, 
a  heightening  of  elements  which  the  child  already  appre- 
ciates as  having  value.  When  children  have  experienced 
the  reality,  fhe  presentation  of  its  imaginative  idealization 


102  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

makes  a  strong  emotional  appeal.  Used  in  this  way 
literature  bound  to  the  child's  life  by  his  strong  sense 
of  reality  is  made  a  wholesome  force  in  developing  per- 
sonality, instead  of  being  the  weak  sentimental  thing  it 
so  often  is,  offering  to  the  child  little  more  than  a  release 
from  the  humdrum  experiences  of  everyday  life.  Our 
general  aim  in  education  is  to  explain  reality.  Literature 
to  have  a  legitimate  place  in  school  work  must  share  in 
this  general  aim  and  have  some  unique  service  to  render 
in  extending  the  experience  of  children.  It  has  a  unique 
service  to  offer — that  of  deepening  their  appreciation  of 
the  ideal  factors  implicit  in  the  affairs  of  the  world. 

This  point  of  view  should  govern  the  kind  of  literature 
we  give  to  children.  The  choice  of  literature  for  children 
has  been  confused  by  lack  of  knowledge  of  child  nature 
and  what  it  demands  at  various  stages  of  growth.  It  has 
too  frequently  rested  upon  false  psychological  notions  of 
the  imagination.  This  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  faculty 
isolated  and  complete  in  itself,  which  had  to  be  fed,  es- 
pecially in  early  childhood,  with  fantastic  and  bizarre  sub- 
ject-matter. It  is  for  this  reason  among  others  that  fairy- 
tales and  myths  have  so  often  assumed  the  primary  place 
in  courses  of  literature  for  young  children.  The  young 
child  has,  it  is  true,  a  full-functioning  imagination;  the 
imagination  must  be  one  of  his  chief  means  of  recon- 
structing experiences  not  immediately  presented  to  the 
senses ;  but  the  imagination  builds  with  the  materials  which 
experience  has  gathered.  The  safest  and  soundest  basis 
for  imagination  is  a  rich,  absorbing,  varied  experience  with 
reality.  It  acts  as  a  constant  check  upon  the  fantastic 
morbid  flights  of  fancy  indulged  in  by  children  whose 
imaginations  are  deprived  of  their  legitimate  functioning 
through  lack  of  experience.  "The  healthy  imagination 
deals  not  with  the  unreal,  but  with  the  mental  realization 
of  what  is  suggested.  Its  exercise  is  not  a  flight  into  the 
purely  fanciful  and  ideal,  but  a  method  of  expanding  and 
filling  in  what  is  real.  To  the  child  the  homely  activities 
going  on  about  him  are  not  utilitarian  devices  for  accom- 
plishing physical  ends;  they  exemplify  a  wonderful  world 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  lOS 

the  depths  of  which  he  has  not  sounded,  a  world  full  of 
mystery  and  promise  that  attend  all  the  doings  of  the 
grown-ups  whom  he  admires.  However  prosaic  the  world 
may  be  to  the  adults  who  find  its  duties  routine  affairs, 
to  the  child  it  is  fraught  with  social  meaning.  To  engage 
in  it  is  to  exercise  the  imagination  in  constructing  an 
experience  of  wider  value  than  any  the  child  has  yet 
mastered."     (John  Dewey,  How  We  Think,  p.  166.) 

The  educational  belief,  now  exploded  by  the  modem 
point  of  view  in  psychology,  that  children  recapitulate 
the  experience  of  the  race  has  also  had  an  effect  upon 
the  development  of  courses  in  literature.  As  children  in 
their  experience  were  thought  to  go  through  various  cul- 
ture epochs,  series  of  myths,  fables,  hero-tales  and  so  on 
were  arranged  in  accordance  with  this  view.  The  possible 
result  of  such  an  accumulation  of  imaginative  material 
divorced  from  actual  experience  is  to  swamp  children  in 
unreality.  Our  educational  aim  is  to  clarify  a  child's 
sense  of  reality;  any  use  of  educational  material  which 
confuses  the  sense  of  reality,  and  leads  him  to  confound 
fact  and  fantasy  is  illegitimate.  There  is  no  psychological 
justification  for  identifying  imaginative  power  simply 
with  interest  in  the  weird,  the  fanciful,  and  the  unreal 
as  represented  in  fairy-tales  and  myths,  or  for  supposing 
that  it  is  cultivated  by  imaginative  interpretations  remote 
from  experience.  Undoubtedly  myths  and  fairy-tales  have 
a  place  in  the  education  of  children,  but  they  need  to  be 
balanced  by  stories  and  information  that  bring  the  child 
into  fuller  and  more  definite  relations  to  the  world  of 
reality  in  which  he  is  to  live.  Normal  children,  who 
receive  the  stimulation  of  a  rich  and  varied  environment, 
need  to  have  their  images  brought  out  and  cleared  up, 
rather  than  to  have  them  merely  excited  by  fanciful  sub- 
ject-matter which  has  no  relation  to  life. 

All  folk  literature  represents  a  symbolism  deeply 
fraught  with  sociological  significance ;  it  is  indigenous  to 
a  certain  stage  of  culture.  Many  of  the  myths  portray 
social  relationships  which  though  perfectly  appropriate 
to  the  age  of  which  they  are  an  expression,  are  no  longer 


104  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

looked  upon  as  desirable.  Surely  it  is  unwise  to  make 
children's  first  excursions  into  the  ideal  world  represented 
by  literature,  with  the  accompanying  vivid  first  impres- 
sions, along  such  mistaken  routes.  Such  stories  should 
at  least  be  reserved  for  a  much  later  period  when  the 
child's  maturing  powers,  his  knowledge  of  present-day 
social  standards,  his  knowledge  of  forms  of  social  life  as 
expressions  of  various  stages  of  the  world's  history,  en- 
able him  to  understand  them  in  their  proper  historical 
and  social  setting.  This  consideration  of  literature  in 
connection  with  the  social  life  of  which  it  is  an  expression 
is  an  important  and  appropriate  use  of  literature  for 
older  children  often  opening  to  them  the  doors  to  imagina- 
tive participation  in  the  life  of  the  people  studied,  and 
thus  becoming  a  strong  factor  in  creating  sympathetic 
appreciation  of  it. 

Recent  researches  into  the  psychology  of  the  uncon- 
scious life  have  made  clear  how  many  of  the  apparently 
harmless  experiences  of  children  have  been  the  cause  of 
submerged  ideas  which  in  later  years  produce  obscure 
and  baffling  pathological  results.  The  undiscriminating 
use  of  fairy-tales  has  in  some  cases  been  found  to  be  a 
contributing  cause.  Stories  of  treachery  and  cunning,  of 
cruelty  and  pain,  grim  tales  of  blood-feuds,  and  all  such 
gruesome  and  horrible  accounts  in  which  myths  and 
fairy-tales  abound,  make  a  terrible  impression  upon  sen- 
sitive children,  and  may  easily  be  the  cause  of  neurotic 
fantasies  and  morbid  imaginative  fears.  At  present  our 
knowledge  of  all  this  side  of  life  is  so  vague  that  it  is 
certainly  wiser  to  be  on  the  safe  side  and  avoid  imagina- 
tive literature  of  this  sort. 

The  moral  of  this  discussion  is  not,  as  the  emphasis 
might  seem  to  imply,  that  we  break  with  tradition.  The 
present  is  not  isolated  from  the  past,  and  to  fail  to  utilize 
the  great  heritage  that  has  come  to  us  from  the  past 
is  to  retard  progress.  Great  masterpieces  are  not  mere 
records  of  a  time  that  is  forever  gone ;  they  have  survived 
because  they  image  forth  in  significant  form  something 
that  is  yet  to  be,  and  thus  transcend  time.    As  such  they 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  105 

are  fit  matter  for  the  education  of  the  young.  But  there 
is  the  conventional  attitude  toward  tradition  which  ac- 
cepts everything  indiscriminately  simply  because  it  is 
tradition,  and  there  is  a  more  intelligent  use  of  tradition 
which  selects  from  the  great  wealth  of  material  available 
such  as  will  best  serve  its  purpose.  The  productions  of 
the  past  become  wholesome  stimuli  only  when  the  back- 
ground of  experiences  of  the  reader  in  some  way  makes 
possible  a  correspondence  between  the  emotional  content 
of  the  reader  and  that  expressed  by  the  writer  so  that 
he  responds  in  a  whole-hearted  manner  to  the  matter 
recorded.  When  a  piece  of  literature  fails  to  awaken 
desirable  responses  from  children  it  is  an  indication  that 
we  have  somehow  failed  in  our  selection.  To  continue  in 
such  a  course  is  to  run  the  risk  of  establishing  a  strong 
distaste  for  literature  instead  of  an  intelligent  enjoy- 
ment of  it. 

If  we  argue  for  this  critical  assessment  of  traditional 
literature,  what  shall  be  our  attitude  toward  those  modern 
imitations  of  old  forms  which  are  now  flooding  the 
market?  The  old  literature  represents  a  spontaneous  out- 
burst of  feeling;  as  a  consequence  thought  and  its  expres- 
sion are  welded  together  as  one,  and  expression  takes 
on  a  character  of  inevitability.  The  modern  reproduc- 
tions are  often  nothing  but  conscious  imitations  of  the 
form  lacking  the  sincerity  and  vitality  of  the  original. 
There  seems  to  be  little  excuse  for  using  them.  Modern 
stories  and  poems  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  the  tradi- 
tional only  are  literature,  and  only  such  deserve  a  place 
in  school  work. 

The  selection  of  literature  that  is  really  educational 
according  to  our  newer  conceptions  of  education,  on  the 
whole  presents  a  field  which  is  as  yet  uncultivated.  Al- 
though the  choice  of  literature  must  be  determined  experi- 
mentally, the  general  type  suitable  for  children  is  straight- 
forward, direct,  dramatic  in  quality,  and  free  from  subtle 
symbolism.  When  personification  is  employed,  if  we  are 
sure  that  the  children  understand  it  as  such,  they  are  in 
no  danger  of  confounding  fact  and  fancy,  and  they  enjoy 


106  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

it  in  the  art  sense  as  an  imaginative  representation.  A 
discriminating  selection  of  traditional  literature  will  in- 
clude suitable  myths,  fairy-tales,  folk  stories  and  the  like, 
but  it  will  balance  these  by  a  generous  use  of  other  types 
of  literature,  both  old  and  modern,  which  give  a  height- 
ened sense  of  the  real  romance  of  the  real  world. 

Besides  the  original  spontaneous  dramatization  that 
children  engage  in,  they  often  enjoy  turning  the  materials 
of  stories  read  to  them  into  active  form  by  dramatizing 
them.  This  is  a  very  legitimate  use  of  literature  in  school. 
It  is  the  child ^s  way  of  making  the  material  his  own;  of 
experiencing  it ;  and  it  may  be  made  a  valuable  educational 
instrument,  provided  it  is  carried  on  under  the  general 
point  of  view  that  the  form  and  direction  of  activity  is  not 
to  be  impressed  from  without,  but  is  to  be  the  free  expres- 
sion of  the  children's  conceptions.  When  this  is  so,  the 
reproduction  of  stories  in  dramatic  form  gives  a  very  true 
index  of  the  children 's  understanding  of  the  material  read. 
This  point  of  view  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  the 
teacher  should  not  make  suggestions;  it  means  only  that 
the  general  course  of  the  activity  should  be  dictated  by 
the  children.  This  kind  of  activity  forms  a  center  for  a 
great  number  of  related  activities  of  a  constructive  nature, 
the  preparation  of  costumes,  and  of  other  materials  neces- 
sary to  play.  As  a  group  activity  undertaken  with  a  com- 
mon purpose  it  is  also  a  powerful  means  of  developing  the 
social  spirit. 

READING 

Bruce,  H.  Addington. — Handicaps  of  Childhood.    Dodd, 
Mead. 

Chap.  VIII.  Fairy  Tales  That  Handicap. 
Cooke,  H.  C.—The  Play  Way,  Stokes. 

Chap.    VII.  Acting    Shakespeare    in   the    Class 

Room. 
Chap.  VIII.  Miming  and  the  Ballads. 
Dewey,  John. — Article   on  the   Culture  Epoch  Theory, 
Cyclopaedia  of  Education,  Macmillan. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  107 

McClintOck,  p.  L. — Literature  in  the  Elementary  School 

— University  of  Chicago  Press. 
Mitchell,  Lucy  Sprague. — Here  and  Now  Story  Book, 

Dutton. 

Introduction. 
Rank,  0. — Myth  of  the  Birth  of  the  Hero — ^Nervous  and 

Mental  Disease  Monograph,  No.  18. 
RiCKLiN,  Franz. — Wish  Fulfillment  and  Symbolism  in  Fairy 

Tales.  Nervous  and  Mental  Disease  Monograph,  No.  21. 

Enough  has  perhaps  been  said  to  indicate  the  nature 
of  the  play  environment  to  be  provided  and  the  aims  to 
be  sought.  Let  the  children  explore  the  vi^orld  of  reality 
as  widely  as  possible,  let  them  experiment  vrith  things 
freely,  let  them  reproduce  their  impressions  in  as  many 
creative  art  forms  as  possible.  Supplement  this  active 
work  wherever  possible  with  related  subject-matter  that 
explains  and  extends  the  first-hand  experiences  which  the 
children  are  gaining.  The  whole  work  will  take  its  motiva- 
tion and  direction  in  guiding  the  natural  capacities  and 
interests  of  the  children  into  functional  relations  with 
the  world  of  man  and  nature.  These  early  school  ex- 
periences should  be  infinitely  varied,  touched  lightly,  and 
left  behind — ^for  this  is  the  natural  way  of  childhood. 

Activity  as  Work 

Play  activities  are  occupations  pleasurable  in  them- 
selves; pleasure  comes  as  a  direct  reflex  of  the  bodily 
activities.  The  motivation  of  activity  toward  the  accom- 
plishment of  purposes  is,  however,  characteristic  of  the 
human  intellect.  With  the  growth  of  the  child's  mind 
in  knowledge  and  power,  curiosity  develops  a  more  in- 
tellectual form,  the  ends  of  inquiry  are  projected  into 
the  abstract,  and  the  pleasurable  emotional  reflex  is  trans- 
ferred from  activity  for  its  own  sake,  into  an  emotional 
reflex  from  activity  directed  toward  the  realization  of 
purposes.  With  increasing  ability  in  technique,  interest 
in  the  process  for  its  own  sake,  which  is  characteristic 
of  the  play  impulse,  tends  to  pass  over  into  an  appropriate 


108  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

interest  in  the  product,  which  is  at  the  foundation  of  the 
instinct  of  workmanship.  Just  as  the  play  school  aims 
to  give  young  children  a  rich  play  experience,  schools 
for  older  children  should  provide  an  environment  fitted 
to  develop  the  best  characteristics  of  the  instinct  of 
workmanship.  This  does  not  mean  necessarily  any  sharp 
differentiation  in  kind  between  the  earlier  and  later  ac- 
tivities provided  by  the  school.  The  course  of  a  develop- 
ing experience  is  continuous.  The  simple  concrete  pro- 
jects of  the  early  period  are  the  matrix  out  of  which 
the  later,  more  refined,  more  controlled  forms  should  grow. 
All  the  types  of  activity  noted  under  play  should  there- 
fore form  a  part  of  the  later  work  of  the  school. 

The  gradual  development  from  the  play  interest  to  the 
work  interest  involves  the  question  of  the  supplying  of 
technique  by  the  school.  It  cannot  be  too  strongly  em- 
phasized how  dependent  the  value  of  the  school  as  a  work 
laboratory  is  upon  the  extent  to  which  the  play  school 
fulfills  its  function.  We  have  seen  that  psychologically 
every  increase  in  control  is  necessarily  marked  by  a  cor- 
responding inhibition  of  responses  inappropriate  to 
achieving  the  desired  end.  Through  the  constant  working 
of  this  process  the  channels  of  expression  are  deepened 
and  narrowed.  If  the  avenues  of  expression  are  kept 
freely  open  in  early  childhood,  the  play  of  little  children 
develops  a  broad  basis  of  interests,  and  some  facility  in 
a  variety  of  techniques  from  which  the  later  more  in- 
dividual interests  of  the  child  may  make  intelligent  selec- 
tion. It  is  obviously  only  when  the  basis  of  early  ex- 
perimentation is  broad  and  varied  that  this  result  can 
come  about.  If  the  avenues  of  expression  are  restricted 
early,  the  selection  of  later  activities  is  controlled  not  by 
the  purposes  and  interests  of  the  child,  but  by  technical 
ability.  The  principles  of  work,  therefore,  should  not  be 
introduced  too  early;  it  is  the  duty  of  the  school  to  pro- 
long the  plasticity  of  childhood  as  long  as  possible.  Con- 
sideration of  the  opposite  aspect  of  the  matter  is,  however, 
also  necessary.  Interest  and  ability  to  satisfy  it  seldom 
form  an  equation ;  indeed  the  constant  attention  to  equate 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  109 

them  forms  a  powerful  stimulus  constituting  the  educa- 
tive value  of  effort,  which  is  an  attempt  to  arrange  the 
means  for  the  adequate  accomplishment  of  the  desired 
end.  The  margin  of  difference  between  interest  and  the 
power  to  realize  it,  however,  must  not  be  too  great,  or 
the  stimulus  to  effort  disappears.  We  cease  to  take  in- 
terest in  anything  we  see  no  prospect  in  accomplishing. 
Technique  should,  therefore,  not  be  withheld  too  long. 
The  greatest  acumen  and  skill  is  needed  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher  to  determine  just  when  technique  is  needed, 
just  how  much  is  needed  to  keep  activity  up  to  the 
highest  level  of  achievement,  and  by  what  methods  it 
may  be  so  economically  employed  that  it  becomes  an  aid 
to  developing  experience  instead  of  a  break  in  the  con- 
tinuity between  purpose  and  its  effective  realization. 

The  selection  of  activities  during  the  play  period  is 
indicated  predominantly  by  psychological  consideration. 
Although  the  final  criterion  for  any  work  undertaken 
by  the  school  is  of  necessity  psychological,  as  the  ex- 
perience of  children  broadens  through  the  gradual  expan- 
sion of  their  environment,  activities  should  be  chosen  more 
and  more  as  a  means  of  organizing  their  powers  in  social 
directions.  Our  general  educational  purpose  of  making 
clear  to  children  the  fundamental  relationships  implicit  in 
the  complex  social  life  into  which  they  are  being  initiated 
should  govern  our  choice  of  occupations  out  of  the  mul- 
titude of  opportunities  for  activity  presented  by  the 
present  day  environment.  Since  upon  these  children  will 
fall  the  responsibility  of  maintaining  the  activities  by 
which  society  is  advanced,  it  seems  evident  that  they 
should  have  insight  into  those  fundamental  processes 
which  are  indispensable  to  the  continuance  of  associated 
life,  and  into  their  relationship  to  social  advancement. 
The  consequences  are  such  as  to  affect  the  very  nature 
of  social  life;  therefore  education  cannot  neglect  this 
responsibility.  There  is  no  better  way  of  initiating  chil- 
dren into  the  complex  industrial  situation  of  the  present 
than  to  give  them  experience  in  its  fundamental  processes. 
It  is  only  hy  thus  coming  into  active  relations  witJi  the 


110  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

fundamental  necessities  of  community  life,  hy  being  con- 
fronted by  its  problems,  that  children  can  understand 
them.  "We  must  conceive  of  work  in  wood  and  metal, 
of  weaving,  sewing,  and  cooking,  as  methods  of  living 
and  learning,  not  as  distinct  studies.  We  must  conceive 
of  them  in  their  social  significance  as  types  of  processes 
by  which  society  keeps  itself  going,  as  agencies  for  bring- 
ing home  to  the  child  some  of  the  primal  necessities  of 
community  life,  and  as  ways  in  which  those  needs  have 
been  met  by  the  growing  insight  and  ingenuity  of  man" 
(John  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society,  p.  11).  Children 
who  have  experienced  in  simplified  form  the  complete  round 
of  activities  from  the  production  of  the  raw  material  and 
its  manufacture  into  forms  related  to  need  and  use,  have 
had  an  experience  which  gives  the  key  to  their  understand- 
ing of  the  complex  industrial  processes  seen  in  their  com- 
munity. If  this  constructive  work  of  the  school  which  is 
really  a  simpler  statement  of  present-day  processes  involv- 
ing their  fundamental  principles,  is  constantly  reinforced 
by  trips  to  industrial  plants,  children  are  prepared  to 
understand  the  meaning  of  even  complex  machinery,  to  see 
its  purpose,  the  principles  upon  which  it  is  controlled,  and 
so  on.  The  contrast  between  their  simple  hand-made 
products  and  the  achievements  of  modern  machinery  forma 
an  illuminating  object  lesson  showing  the  marvelous  strides 
which  the  inventive  genius  of  man  has  made  in  perfecting 
the  means  of  satisfying  his  purposes. 

Work  with  the  processes  that  lie  at  the  heart  of  the  indus- 
trial situation  may  be  made  an  experience  of  the  highest 
educational  value,  since  it  is  possible  to  develop  the  work 
purely  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  educative  effect  and  to 
attach  to  it  all  that  wealth  of  cultural  matter  which  gives  it 
social  significance  and  which  is  usually  lacking  in  occupa- 
tions carried  on  outside  of  school.  ''The  continually 
increasing  importance  of  economic  factors  in  contemporary 
life  makes  it  the  more  needed  that  education  should  reveal 
their  scientific  content  and  their  social  value.  For  in 
schools,  occupations  are  not  carried  on  for  pecuniary  gain 
but  for  their  own  content.    Freed  from  extraneous  associa- 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  111 

tion,  and  from  the  pressure  of  wage-earning,  they  supply- 
modes  of  experience  which  are  intrinsically  valuable ;  they 
are  truly  liberalizing  in  quality.''  (John  Dewey,  Democ- 
racy and  Education,  p.  235.)  All  occupations  are  saturated 
with  facts  of  deepest  social  import  and  as  children  advance 
in  maturity,  their  experiences  should  be  more  and  more  a 
means  of  revealing  to  them  the  historic,  economic,  social 
and  scientific  factors  implicit  in  them.  In  social  life  to-day 
we  have  separated  hand  work  and  brain  work.  The  only 
hope  for  the  future  of  an  industrial  democracy  lies  in  so 
educating  our  children  that  they  become  more  and  more 
sensitive  to  the  social  significance  of  their  day  to  day 
experiences.  It  is  only  by  thus  releasing  experience  from 
its  narrow  utilities  that  we  can  hope  to  make  schools  centers 
of  art,  science  and  social  interpretation.  *' There  is  always 
danger  that  an  educational  preparation  for  industry  shall 
become  over-technical  and  utilitarian,  carrying  back  into 
the  school  the  most  undesirable  features  of  the  present 
industrial  regime.  Our  protection  lies  in  making  the  indus- 
trial activities  in  the  school  artistic.  Or  there  is  danger  that 
the  harshly  utilitarian  be  escaped  only  at  the  risk  of  an 
obviously  amateurish  fooling  with  occupations — a  deduction 
of  the  play  idea  to  make  believe  and  idle  pretense.  The 
remedy  once  more  is  to  make  the  play  of  childhood  pro- 
ductive, efficient  of  results:  to  make  it  art.  This  alone 
refines  and  idealizes  the  harsher  and  duller  features  of 
labor  while  it  directs  and  articulates  the  play  spirit,  which, 
pursued  apart  from  productive  control  of  physical  ma- 
terials, becomes  weak  and  sentimental.  Art  is  like  industry 
in  that  it  must  achieve  visible  and  tangible  embodiment 
ministering  to  human  use — a  result  so  visible  and  tangible 
as  to  involve  judgment  by  palpable  standards,  while  so 
ministering  to  the  human  spirit  as  to  carry  its  own  standard 
with  it  in  the  joy  of  thought  it  expresses  and  feeds.  Like 
industry  it  needs  definite  tools,  accurate  processes,  an  exact 
technique.  But  in  elevating  the  materials,  the  technique, 
the  outward  means  and  ends,  into  the  region  of  personal 
imagination,  it  gives  an  education  which  educates  not  alone 
to  specific  utilities  and  commodities,  but  to  the  widest  of 


m  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

all  uses;  to  the  just  apprehension  of  values  whenever  and 
wherever  presented/'  (John  Dewey,  Culture  and  Industry 
in  Education^  Educational  Bi-monthly,  October  1,  1906, 
p.  9.*) 

EEADING 

Dewey,  John. — Culture  and  Industry  in  Education,  Edu- 
cational Bi-monthly,  October  1,  1906. 
Dew:ey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education^  Macmillan. 

Chap.        XV.  Play  and  Work  in  the  Curriculum. 
Chap.  XXIII.  Vocational  Aspects  of  Education. 
Dewey,  John. — Eow  We  Think,  Heath. 

Chap.    XII.  Section   2,   Play,   Work   and  Allied 
Forms  of  Activity.    Section  3,  Con- 
structive Occupations. 
Chap.  XVI.  Section  2,  Process  and  Product. 
Dewey,  John. — Tlie  School   and   Society,   University   of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.     VI.  The  Psychology  of  Occupations. 
Chap.  VII.  The  Development  of  Attention. 
Dewey,  John. — Schools  of  To-morrow,  Dutton. 
Chap.  X.  Education  Through  Industry. 
Dopp,   Kathertne. — A   New   Factor  in   the   Elementary- 
School  Curriculum,  American  Journal  of  Sociology, 
September,  1902. 
Harmer,  Althea. — Textile  Industries^  Elementary  School 

Record  No.  3,  University  of  Chicago  Press. 
Richards,  A.  W. — The  Thought  Side  of  Manual  Training, 

Manual  Training  Magazine,  January,  1902. 
Row,  R.  K. — The  Educational  Meaning  of  Manual  Arts  and 

Industries,  Row,  Peterson. 
Russell,  J.  E.,  and  Bonser,  F.  G. — Industrial  Education, 
Teachers  College  Publication. 

Science 

The  scientific  knowledge  which  accrues  as  a  result  of 
more  or  less  random  investigations  and  experimenta- 
tion  during   the   play  period   may  be   greatly   extended 

•By  permission  Chicago  Normal  College. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  US 

and  deepened  in  significance  as  children  mature  and  engage 
in  more  purposeful  activities.  All  occupations,  as  we  have 
seen,  rest  upon  scientific  insight  and  information.  Just 
as  the  race  arrived  at  its  scientific  conclusions  through 
every-day  experiences,  children  can  best  understand  funda- 
mental scientific  principles  by  seeing  them  in  their  practical 
workings.  Unless  children  are  led  to  inquire  further  and 
further  into  the  natural  facts  and  forces  involved  in  the 
occupations  in  which  they  are  engaged,  their  work  will 
result  in  mere  acquisition  of  technical  skill.  One  of 
the  chief  values  in  introducing  occupations  into  school  is 
that  they  provide  natural  avenues  for  advance  into  scien- 
tific principles  and  give  a  motive  for  becoming  acquainted 
with  them.  By  this  method  science,  instead  of  being  an 
abstract  body  of  information  isolated  from  every-day  con- 
cerns and  arrived  at  through  the  manipulation  of  peculiar 
apparatus,  becomes  a  dynamic  force  constantly  deepening 
the  meaning  of  experience  through  showing  the  relationships 
involved  in  it. 

In  order  to  make  clear  the  true  relationship  between 
science  and  occupations,  it  is  necessary  to  rid  our  minds  of 
the  misconceptions  that  have  arisen  from  contemplating 
subjects  of  study  as  isolated  and  complete  units  of  knowl- 
edge, to  be  impressed  directly  upon  growing  minds.  It  has 
frequently  been  the  practice  of  schools  to  begin  science 
instruction  with  the  rudiments  of  science  simplified.  The 
pupils  acquire  a  body  of  technical  information  without 
ability  to  trace  its  relation  to  the  daily  occurrences  with 
which  they  are  familiar.  Science,  however,  ought  not  to  be 
regarded  as  new  subject-matter,  but  as  showing  the  factors 
involved  in  every-day  experiences.  Its  function  in  the 
curriculum  should  be  identical  with  that  which  it  has  per- 
formed in  the  history  of  the  race:  intellectual  control  of 
every-day  experience  through  an  understanding  of  its 
scientific  implications.  Scientific  knowledge  developed  in 
this  way  becomes  the  means  of  revealing  the  world  of 
orderly  relationships  underlying  the  apparently  unrelated 
world  of  experience. 

It  is  recognition  of  this  point  of  view  that  has  given  the 


114  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

impetus  to  general  science  instead  of  courses  in  specific 
sciences.  "As  an  attempt  to  get  back  nearer  to  the  world 
in  which  the  pupil  lives,  and  away  from  a  world  which 
exists  only  for  the  scientist,  the  general  science  tendency 
has,  ...  its  justification.  But  I  have  an  impression  that  in 
practice  it  may  mean  two  quite  different  things.  It  may 
take  its  departure  from  sciences  which  are  already  differ- 
entiated, and  simply  pick  out  pieces  from  them,  some  from 
physics,  some  from  chemistry,  some  from  physiography, 
some  from  botany,  etc.,  and  out  of  this  varied  selection 
form  something  to  serve  as  an  introduction  to  sciences  in  a 
more  specialized  form.  Now  this  method  I  believe  to  be 
of  the  static  type  after  all.  It  gives  scope  for  variety  and 
adaptation,  and  will  work  with  the  right  teacher.  But, 
urged  as  a  general  movement,  I  believe  it  retains  the 
essential  mistake  of  any  method  which  begins  with  scientific 
knowledge  in  its  already-made  form,  while  in  addition  it 
lends  itself  very  easily  to  scrappy  and  superficial  work,  and 
even  to  a  distaste  for  the  continued  and  serious  thinking 
necessary  to  a  real  mastery  of  science. 

**  General  science  may,  however,  have  another  meaning. 
It  may  mean  that  a  person  who  is  himself  an  expert  in 
scientific  knowledge  forgets  for  the  time  being  the  conven- 
tional divisions  of  the  sciences,  and  puts  himself  at  the 
standpoint  of  pupils'  experience  of  natural  forces,  together 
with  their  ordinary  useful  applications.  He  does  not,  how- 
ever, forget  the  scientific  possibilities  of  these  experiences, 
nor  does  he  forget  that  there  is  an  order  of  relative  im- 
portance in  scientific  principles — that  is  to  say,  that  some 
are  more  fundamental,  some  necessary  in  order  to  under- 
stand others,  and  thus  more  fruitful  and  ramifying. 

** While,  then,  he  may  take  his  subject-matter  from  any 
of  the  ordinary  and  more  familiar  materials  of  daily  life, 
he  does  not  allow  that  material,  in  its  obvious  and  super- 
ficial form,  to  dictate  to  him  the  nature  of  the  subsequent 
study.  It  may  be  varnish,  or  cleansers,  or  bleachers,  or  a 
gasolene  engine.  But  he  never  for  a  moment  allows  in  his 
educational  planning  that  thing  to  become  the  end  of 
Study  J  when  he  does,  we  have  simply  the  wrong  kind  of 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  115 

elementary  nature-study  over  again.  To  him,  as  a  teacher, 
the  material  is  simply  a  means,  a  tool,  a  road.  It  is  a  way 
of  getting  at  some  process  of  nature's  activity  which  is 
widely  exemplified  in  other  phenomena  and  which,  when 
graspt,  will  render  them  more  significant  and  intelligible. 
While  the  student's  attention  may  remain,  so  far  as  his 
conscious  interest  is  concerned,  upon  the  phenomena 
directly  in  front  of  him,  it  is  the  teacher's  duty  to  see  that 
he  gets  below  the  surface  to  the  perception  of  whatever  is 
scientifically  in  the  experience.  This  need  not  be  labeled 
a  principle  or  law — in  fact,  if  it  is  so  labeled  at  first,  the 
name  'principle'  or  'law'  will  be  merely  a  label.  But  if 
further  material  is  selected  so  that  what  the  pupil  got  hold 
of  before  serves  as  a  means  of  intellectual  approach  and 
understanding,  it  becomes  a  principle  or  law  for  him :  a  law 
of  his  own  thinking  and  inquiries,  a  standpoint  from  which 
he  surveys  facts  and  attempts  to  reduce  them  to  order.  .  .  . 
**My  point  may  perhaps  be  stated  by  saying  that  the 
right  course  lies  between  two  erroneous  courses.  One 
method  is  the  scrappy  one  of  picking  up  isolated  materials 
just  because  they  happen  to  be  familiar  objects  within  the 
pupil's  experience,  and  of  merely  extending  and  deepening 
the  range  of  the  pupil's  familiarity,  and  then  passing  on  to 
something  else.  No  amount  of  this  process  will  make  an 
introduction  to  science,  to  say  nothing  of  science,  for  an 
introduction  leads  or  draws  into  a  subject,  while  the  scrappy 
method  never,  save  by  accident,  gets  the  pupil  within  range 
of  the  problems  and  explanatory  methods  of  science.  The 
other  erroneous  course  is  taken  when  the  teacher's  imagina- 
tion is  so  limited  that  he  cannot  conceive  of  science  existing 
except  in  the  definitely  segregated  areas,  concepts,  and  terms 
which  are  found  in  books  under  the  heads  of  'physics,' 
'chemistry,'  etc.,  and  who  is  thus  restricted  to  moving  within 
these  boundaries.  Such  a  person  forgets  that  there  is  no 
material  in  existence  which  is  physical  or  chemical  or 
botanical,  but  that  a  certain  ordinary  subject-matter  le- 
comes  physical,  or  chemical,  or  botanical  when  certain  ques- 
tions are  raised,  and  when  it  is  subjected  to  certain  modes 
of  inquiry.    What  is  desired  of  the  pupil  is  that,  starting 


116  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

from  tHe  ordinary  unelast  material  of  experience,  he  shall 
acquire  command  of  the  points  of  view,  the  ideas  and 
methods,  which  make  it  physical  or  chemical  or  whatever. 

**I  return  to  what  I  said  .  .  .  about  the  dynamic  point  of 
view  as  the  really  scientific  one,  or  the  understanding  of 
process  as  the  heart  of  the  scientific  attitude.  What  are 
called  *  physics'  and  *  chemistry'  deal  in  effect  with  the 
lawful  energies  which  bring  about  changes.  .  .  .  But  it 
does  not  follow  that  the  material  which  is  found  in  the  text 
which  segregates  certain  considerations  under  the  head  of 
physics  or  chemistry  is  the  material  to  begin  with.  That  is 
the  fallacy  against  which  I  have  been  arguing.  Plant  and 
animal  life,  the  operations  of  machines,  and  the  familiar 
appliances  and  processes  of  industrial  life  are  much  more 
likely  to  furnish  the  actual  starting  material.  What  the 
principle  calls  for  is  that  the  pupil  shall  be  led  in  his  study 
of  plant  and  animal  life,  of  the  machine  and  its  operations, 
to  the  basic  operations  which  enable  him  to  understand 
what  is  before  him — ^to  be  led  inevitably  to  physical  and 
chemical  principles.  Nothing  is  more  unfortunate  for  edu- 
cation than  the  usual  separation  between  the  sciences  of 
life  and  the  physical  sciences.  Living  phenomena  are 
natural  and  interesting  material  from  w^hich  to  set  out, 
especially  in  all  rural  environments.  But  they  are  educa- 
tionally significant  in  the  degree  in  which  they  are  used  to 
procure  an  insight  into  just  those  principles  which  are  not 
plants  and  animals,  but  which,  when  they  are  formulated 
by  themselves,  constitute  physics  and  chemistry.  It  is  the 
failure  to  carry  nature-study  on  to  this  insight  which  is 
responsible  for  its  pedagogically  unsatisfactory  character, 
and  the  movement  toward  general  science  will  repeat  the 
failure  unless  it  keep  the  goal  of  physical  and  chemical 
principle  steadily  in  view."  (John  Dewey,  Method  in 
Science  Teaching,  Addresses  and  Proceedings  of  the 
National  Education  Association,  1916,  pp.  730-733.*) 

*By  permission  National  Education  Association. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  117 


BEADING 

Camp,  K.  B. — Science  in  Elementary  Education.  Elemen- 
tary School  Record,  No.  VI.  University  of  Chicago 
Press. 

Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education.    Macmillan. 
Chap.  XVII.  Science  in  the  Course  of  Study. 

Dewey,  John. — ^Articles  on  Scientific  Method.  Cyclopaedia 
of  Education,  Macmillan. 

Dewey,  John. — Metlwd  in  Science  Teaching.  Addresses 
and  Proceedings  of  The  National  Education  Associa- 
tion, 1916. 

Dewey,  John. — Science  as  Subject  Matter  and  as  Methods 
Science,  Jan.  28,  1910. 

Pearson,  Karl. — The  Grammar  of  Science,  A.  &  C.  Black, 
London. 

WooDHULL,  J.  F. — The  Teaching  of  Science.    Macmillan. 

The  foregoing  discussions  have  defined  the  place  of 
activity  in  any  scientific  plan  of  education,  and  they  sug- 
gests the  general  course  of  its  development.  Activities  afford 
the  most  direct  instrumentalities  for  the  extension  of 
experience;  they  are  the  fundamental  prerequisite  to  learn- 
ing; they  offer  the  concrete  approach  to  knowledge;  they 
provide  the  natural  centers  for  the  organization  of  subjects 
of  study.  The  school  subjects,  as  we  have  seen,  have  been 
evolved  from  occupations  and  they  get  a  rational  correlation 
and  content  in  children's  minds  through  association  with 
activities.  **  Education  through  occupations  consequently 
combines  within  itself  more  of  the  factors  conducive  to 
learning  than  any  other  method.  It  calls  instincts  and 
habits  into  play;  it  is  a  foe  to  passive  receptivity.  It  has 
an  end  in  view;  results  are  to  be  accomplished.  Hence  it 
appeals  to  thought;  it  demands  that  an  idea  of  an  end  be 
steadily  maintained,  so  that  activity  cannot  be  either 
routine  or  capricious.  Since  the  movement  of  activity  musC 
be  progressive,  leading  from  one  stage  to  another,  observa- 
tion and  ingenuity  are  required  at  each  stage  to  overcome 
obstacles  and  to  discover  and  readapt  means  of  execution.** 


118  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

(John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  361.)  Finally, 
activities  offer  a  natural  means  of  understanding  the  life  of 
the  industrial  community  in  which  the  pupils  are  eventually 
to  play  a  part.  It  is  therefore  a  fundamental  responsibility 
of  the  school  to  develop  in  its  pupils  a  conception  of  indus- 
try as  an  evolving  process  in  which  its  relation  to  the  arts, 
sciences,  history  and  social  advancement  are  made  apparent. 

The  Tool  Subjects 

When  it  becomes  evident  that  children  are  ready  to  gain 
control  of  those  instrumentalities  through  the  mastery  of 
which  they  may  acquire  book  knowledge  for  themselves, 
work  in  reading,  writing,  spelling  and  arithmetic  should  be 
begun.  To  withhold  them  longer  is  to  retard  the  natural 
progress  of  experience.  It  is  necessary  for  the  teacher  to 
have  a  clear-cut  point  of  view  with  regard  to  these  subjects, 
otherwise  she  is  in  danger  of  divorcing  them  from  the 
active  work  of  the  school.  Independence  in  these  subjects 
means  mastery  of  the  symbols  of  learning.  Symbols, 
rightly  employed,  are  most  important  agents  in  extending 
and  controlling  experience.  They  are  the  keys  which 
unlock  to  the  child  a  wealth  of  vicarious  experience  lying 
beyond  the  possible  range  of  his  limited  individual  experi- 
ence. '*  There  is  a  sense  in  which  it  is  impossible  to  value 
too  highly  the  formal  and  the  symbolic.  The  genuine  form, 
the  real  symbol,  serve  as  methods  in  the  holding  and  dis- 
covery of  truth.  They  are  tools  by  which  the  individual 
pushes  out  most  surely  and  widely  into  unexplored  areas. 
.  .  .  They  are  means  by  which  he  brings  to  bear  whatever  of 
reality  he  has  succeeded  in  gaining  in  past  searchings.  But 
this  happens  only  when  the  symbol  really  symbolizes — ^when 
it  stands  for  and  sums  up  in  short-hand  actual  experiences 
which  the  individual  has  already  gone  through.  A  symbol 
which  is  induced  from  without,  which  has  not  been  led  up 
to  in  preliminary  activities,  is,  as  we  say,  a  hare  or  mere 
symbol;  it  is  dead  and  barren."  (John  Dewey,  The  Child 
and  the  Curriculum^  pp.  31-32.) 

Certain  conditions  should  be  observed  in  the  introduction 
and  use  of  the  tool  subjects.     *'The  conditions  may  be 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  119 

reduced  to  two:  (1)  The  need  that  the  child  shall  have  in 
his  own  personal  and  vital  experience , a  varied  background 
of  contact  and  acquaintance  with  realities,  social  and 
physical.  This  is  necessary  to  prevent  symbols  from  becom- 
ing a  purely  second-hand  and  conventional  substitute  for 
reality.  (2)  The  need  that  the  more  ordinary,  direct,  and 
personal  experience  of  the  child  shall  furnish  problems, 
motives,  and  interests  that  necessitate  recourse  to  books  for 
their  solution,  satisfaction,  and  pursuit.  Otherwise,  the 
child  approaches  the  book  without  intellectual  hunger,  with- 
out alertness,  without  a  questioning  attitude  and  the  result 
is  the  one  so  deplorably  common:  such  abject  dependence 
upon  books  as  weakens  and  cripples  vigor  of  thought  and 
inquiry,  combined  with  reading  for  mere  random  stimula- 
tion of  fancy,  emotional  indulgence,  and  flight  from  the 
world  of  reality  into  a  make-believe  land. 

**The  problem  here  is  then  (1)  to  furnish  the  child  with 
a  sufficiently  large  amount  of  personal  activity  in  occupa- 
tions, expression,  conversation,  construction,  and  experi- 
mentation, so  that  his  individuality,  moral  and  intellectual, 
shall  not  be  swamped  by  a  disproportionate  amount  of  the 
experience  of  others  to  which  books  introduce  him;  and 
(2)  so  to  conduct  this  more  direct  experience  as  to  make  the 
child  feel  the  need  of  resort  to  and  command  of  the  tra- 
ditional social  tools — furnish  him  with  motives  and  make 
his  recourse  to  them  intelligent,  an  addition  to  his  powers, 
instead  of  a  servile  dependency.  When  this  problem  shall 
be  solved,  work  in  language,  literature,  and  number  will  not 
be  a  combination  of  mechanical  drill,  formal  analysis,  and 
appeal,  even  if  unconscious,  to  sensational  interests;  and 
there  will  not  be  the  slightest  reason  to  fear  that  books  and 
all  that  relates  to  them  will  not  take  the  important  place  to 
which  they  are  entitled.  .  .  . 

**The  more  direct  modes  of  activity,  constructive  and 
occupation  work,  scientific  observation,  experimentation, 
etc.,  present  plenty  of  opportunities  and  occasions  for  the 
necessary  use  of  reading,  writing,  (and  spelling),  and  num- 
ber work.  These  things  may  be  introduced,  then,  not  as 
isolated  studies,  but  as  organic  outgrowths  of  the  child's 


120  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

experience.  The  problem  is,  in  a  systematic  and  progressive 
way,  to  take  advantage  of  these  occasions.  The  additional 
vitality  and  meaning  which  these  studies  thus  secure  make 
possible  a  very  considerable  reduction  of  the  time  ordinarily 
devoted  to  them.  The  final  use  of  the  symbols,  whether  in 
reading,  calculation,  or  composition,  is  more  intelligent, 
less  mechanical ;  more  active,  less  passively  receptive ;  more 
an  increase  of  power,  less  a  mere  mode  of  enjoyment.  (John 
Dewey,  The  School  and  Society y  pp.  104-107.*) 

The  gaining  of  automatic  perfection,  which  is  neces- 
sary to  success  in  the  tool  subjects,  depends  upon 
the  laws  of  habit-formation.  Since  it  is  impossible  to 
develop  habits  without  frequent  repetition  and  since  in  the 
ordinary  school  experience  the  same  situation  does  not  recur 
often  enough  or  at  close  enough  intervals  to  give  oppor- 
tunity for  the  adequate  development  of  the  necessary 
habits,  drill  is  necessary.  Educational  errors  with  regard 
to  drill  seem  to  go  to  two  extremes :  either  drill  is  treated  as 
an  end  in  itself,  is  unrelated  to  the  children's  experience 
and  is  over-emphasized,  or,  in  the  newer  modes  of  instruc- 
tion, in  reaction  against  this  exaggeration,  it  is  treated  as 
of  negligible  importance,  and  dealt  with  only  incidentally. 
The  wiser  course  seems  to  be  an  intermediate  one  in  which 
there  is  an  attempt  to  preserve  a  balance  between  the 
mastery  of  technique  and  the  advancement  of  subject- 
matter  that  is  inherently  significant.  Drill  divorced  from 
meaningful  content  tends  to  develop  a  kind  of  routine  skill, 
by  mere  imitation  and  constant  repetition  without  any 
sensible  grasp  of  the  rationale  of  the  operations  performed. 
This  is  gained  by  sheer  length  of  experience ;  it  is  unaccom- 
panied by  any  of  the  natural  joy  that  springs  from  activity 
spontaneously  developed  and  rationally  cultivated.  There 
is  a  much  higher  form  of  skill  possible  which  owes  its 
development  to  an  intelligent  understanding  of  why  it  is 
undertaken.  This  makes  for  much  more  rapid  development 
of  power.  The  following  suggestions  may  be  helpful  in 
bringing  intelligence  to  bear  upon  drill : 

•By  permission  University  of  Chicago.  Copyright  1900  by  The 
University  of  Chicago.     Copyright  1900  and  1915  by  Jobs  Dewey, 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  121 

1.  Drill  should  grow  out  of  specific  life  situations  that 
show  its  necessity  and  thus  give  it  meaning.  This  means 
that  experience  precedes  drill. 

2.  Children  should  be  made  conscious  of  the  relation 
between  drill  and  the  effective  carrying  out  of  their  pur- 
poses. Once  children  see  the  necessity  for  drill  they  will  be 
willing  to  undergo  it. 

3.  The  proper  balance  should  be  preserved  between  drill 
and  experience.  Exercises  to  develop  habits  should  be 
reduced  to  just  the  amount  necessary  to  make  them  auto- 
matic. Drill  should  not  be  over  emphasized.  It  should  be 
confined  to  those  things  which  are  fundamental;  an  effort 
should  be  made  to  discover  what  the  minimum  essentials 
of  drill  are. 

^  4.  Progress  in  habit-formation  should  be  measured.  By 
this  I  do  not  mean  necessarily  the  use  of  standardized  tests, 
since  these  may  set  up  a  standard  that  may  be  outside  the 
experience  of  any  particular  group  of  children.  I  mean 
rather  some  measurement  devised  with  reference  to  the 
experience  that  a  particular  group  has  had. 

5.  Children  should  themselves  be  conscious  of  their 
progress  in  habit-formation.  Too  frequently  tests  ard 
applied  in  school  work  as  information  for  the  teacher  only. 
One  of  the  most  important  uses  of  tests  is  that  the  child 
himself  may  realize  his  own  success  or  failures  in  forming 
desired  habits.  If  we  are  to  make  children  intelligent  in 
regard  to  drill,  they  must  be  made  cognizant  of  their 
progress.  Perhaps  the  best  way  of  doing  this  is  by  having 
each  child  make  a  simple  graph  in  which  his  learning  curve 
is  indicated.  It  is  possible  for  even  young  children  to  do 
this  successfully,  and  the  use  of  the  graph  greatly  stimu- 
lates speed  in  acquisition.  The  graph  should  be  discussed 
frequently  by  the  teacher  and  the  child,  and  he  should 
gradually  be  able  to  analyze  out  of  his  performance  the 
elements  leading  to  success  or  failure. 

6.  Children  should  not  be  forced  arbitrarily  to  follow 
certain  forms ;  opportunity  should  be  given  them  to  evolve 
better  methods  of  doing  their  work.     "What  may  be  an 


122  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

efficient  method  of  drill  for  one  child  may  not  be  equally  so 
for  another. 

Reading. — Reading  involves  certain  complicated  eye  ad- 
justments, and  is  a  severe  mental  strain.  Too  early  reading 
and  too  great  application  to  it  are  the  frequent  cause  of 
eye-strain  and  nervous  fatigue,  so  that  best  pedagogical 
thought  now  supports  postponing  learning  to  read  until 
after  the  first  year  in  school.  Much  more  practice  should 
be  given  in  silent  reading,  and  oral  reading,  when  engaged 
in,  should  be  motivated. 

In  a  scheme  of  education  which  makes  knowledge  an  end 
in  itself,  it  is  natural  that  the  means  by  which  knowledge  is 
to  be  gained  should  be  the  first  consideration  of  the  school. 
Hence  in  traditional  education  ''It  is  almost  an  unques- 
tioned assumption,  of  educational  theory  and  practice  both, 
that  the  first  three  years  of  a  child's  school-life  shall  be 
mainly  taken  up  with  learning  to  read  and  write  his  own 
language.  If  we  add  to  this  the  learning  of  a  certain 
amount  of  numerical  combinations,  we  have  the  pivot  about 
which  primary  education  swings.  Other  subjects  may  be 
taught ;  but  they  are  introduced  in  strict  subordination.  .  .  . 
What  can  be  said  against  giving  up  the  greater  portion  of 
the  first  two  years  of  school  life  to  the  mastery  of  linguistic 
form  ?  In  the  first  place,  physiologists  are  coming  to  believe 
that  the  sense-organs  and  connected  nerve  and  motor 
apparatus  of  the  child  are  not  at  this  period  best  adapted 
to  the  confining  and  analytic  work  of  learning  to  read  and 
write.  There  is  an  order  in  which  sensory  and  motor 
centers  develop — an  order  expressed,  in  a  general  way,  by 
saying  that  the  line  of  progress  is  from  the  larger,  coarser 
adjustments  having  to  do  with  the  bodily  system  as  a  whole 
(those  nearest  the  trunk  of  the  body)  to  the  finer  and 
accurate  adjustments  having  to  do  with  the  periphery  and 
extremities  of  the  organism.  The  oculist  tells  us  that  the 
vision  of  the  child  is  essentially  that  of  the  savage;  being 
adapted  to  seeing  large  and  somewhat  remote  objects  in  the 
mass,  not  near-by  objects  in  detail.  To  violate  this  law  means 
undue  nervous  strain :  it  means  putting  the  greatest  tension 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  US 

upon  the  centers  least  able  to  do  the  work.  At  the  same 
time,  the  lines  of  activity  which  are  hungering  and  thirst- 
ing for  action  are  left,  unused,  to  atrophy.  .  .  .  Forcing 
children  at  a  premature  age  to  devote  their  entire  attention 
to  these  refined  and  cramped  adjustments  has  left  behind 
it  a  sad  record  of  injured  nervous  systems  and  of  muscular 
disorders  and  distortions.  While  there  are  undoubted 
exceptions,  present  physiological  knowledge  points  to  the 
age  of  about  eight  years  as  early  enough  for  anything  more 
than  an  incidental  attention  to  visual  and  written  language 
form. 

*'We  must  not  forget  that  these  forms  are  symbols.  I 
em  far  from  deprecating  the  value  of  symbols  in  our  intel- 
lectual life.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  all  progress 
in  civilization  upon  the  intellectual  side  has  depended  upon 
increasing  invention  and  control  of  symbols  of  one  sort  or 
another.  Nor  do  I  join  in  the  undiscriminating  cry  of  those 
who  condemn  the  study  of  language  as  having  to  do  with 
mere  words,  not  with  realities.  Such  a  position  is  one-sided, 
and  is  as  crude  as  the  view  against  it  which  is  a  reaction. 
But  there  is  an  important  question  here:  Is  the  child  of 
six  or  seven  years  ready  for  symbols  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  stress  of  educational  life  can  be  thrown  upon  them  ?  If 
we  were  to  look  at  the  question  independently  of  the  exist- 
ing school  system,  in  the  light  of  the  child's  natural  needs 
and  interests  at  this  period,  I  doubt  if  there  could  be  found 
anyone  who  would  say  that  the  urgent  call  of  the  child  of 
six  and  seven  is  for  this  sort  of  nutriment,  instead  of  for 
more  direct  introduction  into  the  wealth  of  natural  and 
social  forms  that  surrounds  him.  No  doubt  the  skilful 
teacher  often  succeeds  in  awakening  an  interest  in  these 
matters ;  but  the  interest  has  to  be  excited  in  a  more  or  less 
artificial  way,  and,  when  excited  is  somewhat  factitious  and 
independent  of  other  interests  of  child-life.  At  this  point 
the  wedge  is  introduced  and  driven  in  which  marks  the 
growing  divorce  between  school  and  outside  interests  and 
occupations. 

,      ^*We  cannot  recur  too  often  in  educational  matters  to  the 
conception  of  John  Fiske  that  advance  in  civilization  is  an 


124  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

accompaniment  of  the  prolongation  of  infancy.  Anything 
which,  at  this  period,  develops  to  a  high  degree  any  set  of 
organs  and  centers  at  the  expense  of  others  means  pre- 
mature specialization,  and  the  arrest  of  an  equable  and  all- 
round  development.  Many  educators  are  already  convinced 
that  premature  facility  and  glibness  in  the  matter  of 
numerical  combinations  tend  toward  an  arrested  develop- 
ment of  certain  higher  spiritual  capacities.  The  same  thing 
is  true  in  the  matter  of  verbal  symbols.  Only  the  trained 
psychologist  is  aware  of  the  amount  of  analysis  and  abstrac- 
tion demanded  by  the  visual  recognition  of  a  verbal  form. 
Many  suppose  that  abstraction  is  found  only  where  more  or 
less  complex  reasoning  exists.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  the 
essence  of  abstraction  is  found  in  compelling  attention  to 
rest  upon  elements  which  are  more  or  less  cut  off  from 
direct  channels  of  interest  and  action.  To  require  a  child 
to  turn  away  from  the  rich  material  which  is  all  about  him, 
to  which  he  spontaneously  attends,  and  which  is  his  natural, 
unconscious  food,  is  to  compel  the  premature  use  of  analytic 
and  abstract  powers.  It  is  wilfully  to  deprive  the  child  of 
that  synthetic  life,  that  unconscious  union  with  his  environ- 
ment, which  is  his  birthright  and  privilege.  There  is  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  a  premature  demand  upon  the 
abstract  intellectual  capacity  stands  in  its  own  way.  It 
cripples  rather  than  furthers  later  intellectual  development. 
We  are  not  yet  in  a  position  to  know  how  much  of  the 
inertia  and  seeming  paralysis  of  mental  powers  in  later 
periods  is  the  direct  oiltcome  of  excessive  and  too  early 
appeal  to  isolated  intellectual  capacity.  We  must  trust  to 
the  development  of  physiology  and  psychology  to  make 
these  matters  so  clear  that  school  authorities  and  the  public 
opinion  which  controls  them  shall  have  no  option.  Only 
then  can  we  hope  to  escape  that  deadening  of  the  childish 
activities  which  led  Jowett  to  call  education  *the  grave  of 
the  mind.' 

*  *  Were  the  matter  not  so  serious  it  would  be  ludicrous,  when 
we  reflect  how  all  this  time  and  effort  fail  to  reach  the  end 
to  which  they  are  specially  consecrated.  It  is  a  common 
saying  among  intelligent  educators  that  they  can  go  into  a 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  125 

school-room  and  select  the  children  who  picked  up  reading 
at  home:  they  read  so  much  more  naturally  and  intelli- 
gently. The  stilted,  mechanical,  droning,  and  sing-song 
ways  of  reading  which  prevail  in  many  of  our  schools  are 
simply  the  reflex  of  the  lack  of  motive.  Reading  is  made 
an  isolated  accomplishment.  There  are  no  aims  in  the 
child's  mind  which  he  feels  he  can  serve  by  reading;  there 
is  no  mental  hunger  to  be  satisfied ;  there  are  no  conscious 
problems  with  reference  to  which  he  uses  books.  The  book 
is  a  reading-lesson.  He  learns  to  read  not  for  the  sake  of 
what  he  reads,  but  for  the  mere  sake  of  reading.  When  the 
bare  process  of  reading  is  thus  made  an  end  in  itself,  it  is 
a  psychological  impossibility  for  reading  to  be  other  than 
lifeless.  .  .  . 

*' Methods  for  learning  to  read  come  and  go  across  the 
educational  arena,  like  the  march  of  supernumeraries  upon 
the  stage.  Each  is  heralded  as  the  final  solution  of  the 
problem  of  learning  to  read ;  but  each  in  turn  gives  way  to 
some  later  discovery.  The  simple  fact  is,  that  they  all  lack 
the  essential  of  any  well-grounded  method,  namely, 
relevancy  to  the  child's  mental  needs.  No  scheme  for  learn- 
ing to  read  can  supply  this  want.  Only  a  new  motive — 
putting  the  child  into  a  vital  relation  to  the  materials  to  be 
read — can  be  of  service  here.  It  is  evident  that  this  con- 
dition cannot  be  met,  unless  learning  to  read  be  postponed 
to  a  period  when  the  child's  intellectual  appetite  is  more 
consciously  active,  and  when  he  is  mature  enough  to  deal 
more  rapidly  and  effectively  with  the  formal  and  mechan- 
ical difficulties.  (John  Dewey,  The  Primary  Education 
Fetish,  The  Forum,  May,  1898,  pp.  315-323.*) 

EEADING 

Chubb,  P. — The  Teaching  of  English,  Macmillan. 
Chap.   V.  Learning  to  Read  and  Write. 
Chap.  VI  and  VII.     Reading    in    the    Primary 
Grades. 

•By  permission  The  Forum  Publishing  Co.    Copyright  1898. 


im  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Dewey,  John. — TTie  Primary  Education  FetisJi,  Forum, 
May,  1898. 

Dearborn,  W.  F. — The  Psychology  of  Reading,  Columbia 
University  Contributions  to  Philosophy  and  Psychol- 
ogy, Vol.  XIV,  No.  1  (out  of  print). 

HuEY,  E.  B. — The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Reading, 
Macmillan. 

JuDD,  C.  H. — Reading:  Its  Nature  and  Development,  Sup- 
plementary Educational  Monographs,  Vol.  II,  No.  4, 
University  of  Chicago  Press. 

Klapper,  p. — Teaching  Children  to  Read,  Appleton. 

Writing. — Systems  of  teaching  writing,  Spencerian,  ver- 
tical, Palmer  and  so  on,  come  and  go,  and  instead  of  being 
a  solution  of  the  problem  seem  only  to  add  to  its  complexity. 
Two  fundamental  points  to  be  considered  with  regard  to 
writing  are  the  child's  need  of  it  and  his  physical  fitness  to 
undertake  it.  "Writing  does  not  need  to  be  taught  until  the 
child  begins  to  feel  a  desire  to  express  himself  by  written 
symbols  rather  than  by  some  other  means.  Spelling  and 
writing  go  together  and  should  both  be  incidental  until  a 
later  stage  than  that  of  learning  to  read.  Writing  involves 
a  complex  movement  necessitating  the  coordination  and 
control  of  a  number  of  muscles  of  the  arm,  the  hand  and 
the  fingers.'  It  must  be  evident  that  the  complexity  of  the 
movements  involved  and  the  close  attention  required  make 
it  unsuitable  to  the  early  stage  of  child  development.  In 
experiments  carried  on  by  Bryan  and  Gilbert,  it  was  found 
that  the  motor  ability  of  the  arm  and  hand  reached  matur- 
ity about  the  period  of  adolescence,  and  that  about  the 
age  of  nine  or  ten  the  finger  movements  acquired  a  high 
percentage  of  ability.  It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that 
the  child  is  not  physiologically  fitted  to  do  much  writing 
or  a  finished  type  of  writing  before  that  time.  When  begin- 
ning writing  the  child,  of  necessity,  writes  haltingly, 
laboriously,  and  irregularly  because  of  the  complexity  of 
the  coordinations  necessary  to  producing  writing.  Conse- 
quently little  writing  should  be  required  of  a  child  at  first 
and  that  little  accomplished  with  as  little  consciousness  as 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  127 

possible.  Early  writing  should  be  large,  exercising  the 
large  muscles ;  gradually  it  may  be  made  smaller  and  more 
attention  paid  to  details.  From  the  beginning  it  should  be 
upon  content  that  has  meaning  for  the  child. 

Since  writing  depends  upon  habit-formation,  a  careful 
consideration  of  the  best  form  of  practice  is  important. 
Practice  for  practice'  sake  soon  degenerates  into  careless- 
ness and  for  this  reason  copy-books  have  been  discarded. 
The  most  effective  practice  is  gained  through  expressing 
one's  thought.  Copy-books  may  profitably  be  used  as 
reference  books  to  be  consulted  as  a  corrective  of  form. 
The  child  should  observe  the  correct  form  of  a  troublesome 
letter  and  practice  it,  by  continuous  comparisons  with  the 
model  he  is  able  to  correct  his  errors. 

Handwriting  scales  have  been  extensively  used  recently 
as  a  means  of  improving  form.  They  are  valuable  in 
supplying  an  incentive  to  improvement.  It  is  possible  with 
children  beginning  writing  to  evolve  a  scale  from  their  own 
experience  by  preserving  specimens  of  writing  done  at 
regular  intervals.  Each  child  can  then  observe  his  own 
improvement.  One  of  the  most  effective  aids  to  improve- 
ment lies  in  directing  the  child's  attention  to  the  sources  of 
his  own  failure  and  successes  and  thus  making  him  an 
intelligent  critic  of  his  own  work. 

READING 

Ayres,  L. — Measuring  Scale  for  Handwriting,  Russell  Sage 

Foundation. 
Freeman,  F.  N. — TJie  Teaching  of  Handwriting,  Houghton. 
Thorndike,  E.  L. — Handwriting,  Teachers  College  Record, 

March,  1910. 

Spelling. — It  has  been  found  by  investigation  that  the 
time  actually  devoted  to  spelling  in  schools,  as  given  on 
daily  school  programs,  ranges  from  ten  minutes  to  an  hour, 
the  latter  being  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  available  time  for 
instruction ;  in  addition  to  this,  lessons  are  almost  invariably 
assigned  for  home-work,  and  a  large  amount  of  incidental 
work  is  always  done.     Yet,  notwithstanding  this  expend- 


128  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

iture  of  effort,  there  is  abundant  evidence  to  show  that 
pupils  in  the  upper  classes  of  the  secondary  school  are  often 
unable  to  write  correctly  a  large  number  of  words  occurring 
in  ordinary  discourse.  It  has  been  found  that  in  schools 
giving  a  great  deal  of  time  to  the  subject  the  results  are  no 
better  than  in  those  devoting  only  a  small  amount.  It 
seems  evident  that  the  causes  of  success  and  failure  must 
be  sought  in  (1)  the  selection  of  material  for  spelling 
lessons,  and  (2)  the  method  of  dealing  with  that  material. 

A  brief  review  of  the  history  of  spelling  will  throw  some 
light  on  both  of  these  points.  In  the  beginning  the  subject 
of  spelling  was  closely  associated  with  reading — a  relation 
somewhat  difficult  for  the  modern  teacher  to  understand, 
since  spelling  is  a  technical  equipment  made  necessary  by 
the  demands  of  written  expression,  and  a  child's  writing 
vocabulary  is  obviously  different  from  his  reading  vocab- 
ulary. A  little  later,  spelling  was  differentiated  from  the 
subject  of  reading,  largely  because  of  the  appearance  of 
spelling-books,  which  gave  it  a  more  or  less  independent 
existence  as  a  formal  subject.  Spelling-books  imposed  adult 
standards  in  the  selection  of  words,  and  disregarded  the 
child's  need  of  them.  The  grading  of  words  was  mechanical 
rather  than  psychological,  the  difficulty  of  a  word  being 
largely  measured  by  the  number  of  syllables  it  contained. 
The  fallacy  of  grading  words  on  mere  length  is  obvious. 
An  irregular  word  of  three  syllables  may  be  more  difficult 
than  a  regular  word  of  five.  Moreover,  a  child  wishing  to 
spell  an  irregular  word  useful  to  him,  will  learn  it  more 
readily  than  he  would  a  regular  word  imposed  on  him  by 
the  spelling  book. 

Not  only  was  the  material  of  the  old-fashioned  spelling 
lesson  unsatisfactory,  the  method  of  dealing  with  it  was 
equally  so.  The  ordinary  lesson  consisted  of  the  writing  of 
twenty  unrelated  words  at  the  teacher's  dictation;  these 
were  afterwards  corrected  according  to  the  oral  spelling  by 
the  teacher,  and  a  new  lesson  assigned  for  the  next  day  with- 
out much  preparation  or  anticipation  of  special  difficulties. 
Correction  on  the  part  of  the  child  consisted  in  writing  the 
misspelled  words  a  specified  number  of  times.    Under  such 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  129 

a  system  the  learning  of  spelling  was  a  matter  of  individual 
study ;  the  so-called  class  lesson  was  really  a  daily  examina- 
tion designed  to  test  knowledge.  The  ineffectiveness  of  this 
drill  has  been  frequently  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  the 
act  of  spelling  words  in  connected  discourse  is  one  the  com- 
plexity of  which  far  exceeds  that  of  writing  lists  of  words, 
and  that  ability  acquired  in  drill  is  not  always  transferable 
to  the  exigencies  of  connected  written  discourse.  That 
pupils  who  can  pass  good  spelling  examinations  frequently 
write  badly  spelled  compositions  and  letters  is  a  matter  of 
frequent  comment. 

Present  day  methods  still  suffer  much  from  inheritance. 
For  instance,  the  ordinary  spelling-book  still  contains  some 
ten  or  fifteen  thousand  words,  many  of  them  never  occur- 
ring in  the  child's  writing  vocabulary,  nor  even  in  the 
ordinary  adult's.  Spelling  can  never  be  perfect  until  it  is 
automatic.  But  we  can  never  secure  this  automatic  spelling 
until  we  rid  ourselves  of  the  notion  that  the  child  should 
learn  to  spell  all  the  words  that  a  person  might  ever  be 
called  upon  to  use.  The  problem  is  to  teach  the  children  to 
spell  the  words  which  they  use  in  their  own  free  written 
speech.  In  an  investigation  carried  on  in  South  Dakota  it 
was  found  that  out  of  fifteen  million  words  used  by  a 
thousand  pupils  (about  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  each  grade 
above  the  first)  in  writing  seventy-five  thousand  themes  on 
subjects  of  interest  to  them,  the  total  number  of  different 
words  was  but  4532.  It  was  found  further  that  the  words 
most  frequently  misspelled  occurred  almost  invariably  in 
the  lower  class  lists,  and  reappeared  in  the  subsequent  lists. 
Such  an  investigation  points  the  way  to  a  great  simplifica- 
tion of  spelling  material,  and  consequently  should  have  a 
powerful  reflex  upon  the  method  of  teaching  the  subject. 
If  words  generally  misspelled  are  found  in  the  early  vocab- 
ularies of  children  we  must  pay  particular  attention  to  the 
weeding  out  of  these  words  in  the  lower  grades  so  that  mis- 
spellings may  not  become  fixed  by  the  bad  habits  of  many 
years.  If  the  entire  number  of  words  to  be  taught  is  greatly 
reduced,  the  lesson  of  fifteen  or  twenty  words  a  day  must  be 
abolished,  because  such  assignments  imply  more  words  than 


130  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

the  pupils  command.  The  assignment  of  three  or  four 
words  a  day  would  probably  be  in  better  proportion.  The 
time  released  by  the  reduction  of  the  number  of  words  in 
the  lesson  could  then  be  profitably  spent  in  the  class  study 
of  new  words.  The  primary  aim  in  the  spelling  lesson  is  not 
testing  but  teaching;  not  in  finding  spelling  errors,  but  in 
preventing  them.  Much  care  should  be  taken  in  presenting 
new  words,  and  in  safeguarding  the  child  against  a  wrong 
first  impression.  If  a  lesson  is  assigned  it  should  be  not 
the  mere  blocking  out  of  a  number  of  words  to  be  learned, 
but  an  exercise  in  which  the  teacher  uses  all  her  foresight  in 
anticipating  the  various  kinds  of  trouble  the  child  will  meet, 
focussing  attention  on  special  difficulties  and  suggesting 
modes  of  self -instruction. 

There  are  three  factors  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
teaching  a  child  to  spell  any  word :  the  meaning,  the  pro- 
nunciation, the  spelling.  Tests  which  have  been  made  show 
that  it  is  never  safe  to  take  any  of  these  three  factors 
for  granted.  If  a  child  does  not  know  the  meaning  of  a 
word,  he  cannot  use  it,  and  therefore  has  no  need  of  spelling 
it.  If  he  mispronounces  it  he  is  apt  to  misspell  it. 
*' Library,"  ** surprise,''  "February"  are  classic  examples 
of  this  type  of  word.  The  ultimate  spelling  test  must 
always  be  the  ability  of  the  pupil  to  write  a  word  in 
expressing  thought. 

The  correction  of  spelling  errors  should  not  be  left  to  the 
child ;  it  should  be  an  inquiry  into  the  cause  and  should  be 
undertaken  in  so  pedagogical  and  thorough  a  manner  as  to 
prevent  recurrence  of  the  error.  The  method  of  copying 
the  correct  spelling  of  a  word  a  certain  number  of  times  has 
been  found  to  be  futile  and  therefore  w^asteful.  The  child 
writes  a  word  ten  or  twenty  times  mechanically,  taking 
little  note  of  peculiarities  and  not  associating  the  form  with 
the  other  elements;  meaning,  pronunciation,  etc.  Relearn- 
ing  an  old  word  correctly,  after  incorrect  habits  have  been 
formed,  is  vastly  different  from  learning  new  words  about 
which  the  child  has  no  misconceptions.  The  child's  whole 
attention  is  on  copying,  mastering  a  written  form  outside  of 
its  normal  setting.    The  result  is  that  often  the  child  who 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  131 

has  written  a  word  correctly  ten  or  twenty  times  will  mis- 
spell it  in  a  composition.  The  teacher  should  establish  a 
new  neural  path  beginning  with  meaning  and  leading 
through  pronunciation  to  correct  written  form,  and  exer- 
cise it  so  well  that  it  gradually  becomes  the  path  of  least 
resistance. 

READING 

Ayres,  L.  p. — The  Spelling  Vocabularies  of  Personal  and 

Business  Letters,  Russell  Sage  Foundation. 
Ayre,   L.   p. — Measuring  Scale  for  Ability   in  SpelUng, 

Russell  Sage  Foundation. 
Buckingham,  B.  R. — Spelling  Ability;  Its  Measurement 

and  Distribution,  Teachers  College  Contributions  to 

Education,  No.  59. 
Jones,  W.  F. — Concrete  Investigation  of  the  Material  of 

English  Spelling,  University  of  South  Dakota. 
SuzzALLO,  H. — The  Teaching  of  Spelling ^  Houghton. 

Arithmetic, — ^Mathematics  has  played  an  imposing  role  in 
school  work  as  the  main  prop  supporting  the  belief  in 
formal  discipline.  Beginning  almost  immediately  after 
entrance  into  school,  children  are  drilled  in  the  funda- 
mental operations,  in  the  tables,  and  so  on  through  the 
more  and  more  complex  mathematical  processes.  A 
through-going  application  of  the  doctrine  of  formal  dis- 
cipline drills  children  in  all  the  essential  mathematical 
processes  in  the  belief  that  the  ability  thus  trained  will 
function  in  any  specific  situation  that  may  afterwards  arise. 
Experimental  psychology  has  done  much  to  shake  our 
belief  in  the  transfer  of  training,  and  certainly  the  bad 
record  made  by  many  school  children  when  called  upon  to 
apply  formally-gained  mathematical  knowledge  to  the 
exigencies  of  daily  life  would  seem  to  uphold  the  psychol- 
ogists. The  possibilities  of  mathematics  as  a  social  study 
have  been  little  appreciated.  Mathematics  fails  of  its  pur- 
pose unless  it  is  regarded  as  a  social  tool.  When  it  is 
divorced  from  its  connection  with  social  life  it  becomes 


132  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

unduly  abstract,  a  matter  of  technical  relations  and  for- 
mulae without  end  or  use. 

Mathematics  represents  an  absolutely  indispensable 
means  of  measuring  and  thus  comparing  the  facts  of  life, 
a  method  of  standardizing  the  exchange  value  of  goods. 
This  point  of  view,  if  applied  in  the  school-room,  means  a 
complete  reconsideration  of  the  content  and  method  of 
teaching  arithmetic.  As  to  content,  children  should  have 
experience  in  solving  the  types  of  problems  that  are  found 
important  and  frequent  in  business  and  social  relations. 
This  involves  an  analysis  of  current  social  life  to  see  what 
mathematical  factors  in  it  are  of  general  importance. 
Although  arithmetical  knowledge  is  concerned  in  a  great 
many  of  the  affairs  of  life,  its  primary  use  is  in  economic 
relationships.  It  has  to  do  with  solving  the  problem  of 
maintenance.  In  family  life  it  is  related  to  questions  of 
food,  clothing,  shelter,  in  the  relationship  of  expenses  to 
income  and  savings;  in  industrial  life  it  has  to  do  with 
questions  of  the  cost  of  production,  of  transportation  and 
of  distribution  in  relation  to  the  price  to  be  paid  by  the 
consumer.  This  essential  economic  significance  of  arith- 
metic is  almost  entirely  neglected  when  it  is  regarded 
merely  as  a  disciplinary  subject.  The  study  of  food,  cloth- 
ing, shelter,  now  becoming  so  popular  in  elementary  schools, 
should  consist  not  only  in  the  study  of  the  sources,  the 
methods  of  manufacture  and  so  on,  but  in  a  knowledge  of 
what  they  mean  to  a  family  in  the  purchasing  power  of  a 
family's  income.  This  is  the  sort  of  knowledge  that  is 
needed  by  children  if  family  life  in  the  future  is  to  be 
regulated  by  intelligently  appreciated  economic  principles, 
and  if  the  future  workers  of  the  world  are  to  have  an  under- 
standing of  the  economic  basis  upon  which  the  world  order 
rests. 

Arithmetic,  then,  enters  into  the  curriculum  not  as 
formal  subject  matter ;  it  enters  whenever  it  can  explain  or 
vivify  a  situation.  There  are  numerous  connections  be- 
tween the  experience  of  children  and  business.  The 
domestic  plays  of  young  children  make  possible  dramatiza- 
tions of  buying  and  selling  into  which  more  and  more  of 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  133 

real  value  can  be  naturally  and  gradually  introduced.  A 
knowledge  of  measures  begun  perhaps  in  the  carpenter 
shop,  in  connection  with  the  bench  work,  will  necessarily  be 
extended  to  a  knowledge  of  the  household  weights  and 
measures.  These  will  develop  naturally  into  the  keeping  of 
household  accounts,  determining  the  cost  of  food,  clothing, 
the  up-keep  of  the  home,  the  making  of  budgets,  calculating 
of  the  amount  saved  in  buying  in  quantities,  consideration 
of  the  big  questions  of  economy  in  purchasing,  the  value  of 
saving,  the  function  of  banks  as  a  factor  in  modern  life, 
and  so  on  through  other  institutions  created  by  society  for 
the  satisfaction  of  economic  needs.  The  whole  stability  of 
social  life  will  then  be  seen  to  depend  upon  adequate  solu- 
tions to  these  problems.  Arithmetic  work  instead  of  being  a 
mere  rehearsing  of  number  combinations  will  become  a  very 
fundamental  part  of  daily  life.  This  does  not  mean  that 
drill  will  be  neglected ;  knowledge  of  number  combinations 
is  important;  it  is  a  means  essential  to  the  attainment  of 
our  ends.  Drill  will  fall  into  its  rightful  place.  It  will 
follow  rather  than  precede  problems,  and  it  will  be  not  the 
development  of  a  general  ability,  but  definitely  adjusted  to 
meeting  the  difficulty  at  hand. 

This  view  necessarily  affects  the  use  of  arithmetic  text- 
books. In  text-books,  mathematical  principles  are  worked 
out,  and  problems  that  illustrate  the  principles  are  selected 
and  classified.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  according  to  the> 
view  put  forth  here,  the  text-book  must  fall  into  a  secondary 
place.  The  original  source  of  arithmetic  problems  is  some 
social  situation  under  consideration  by  the  class;  the  text- 
book may  be  used  to  furnish  problems  that  illustrate  similar 
situations  requiring  similar  solutions.  It  is  better  still  to 
utilize  the  home  and  outside  experience  of  the  children  to 
furnish  data  for  further  problems.  They  may  consult 
store-keepers,  read  advertisements  of  sales,  bring  in  printed 
price-lists,  bills  from  their  home  accounts,  etc.  The  more 
real  data  the  better. 


134  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 


READING 

Ball,  K.  F.  and  West,  M.  ^.—Household  Arts  Arithmetic, 
School  Review,  1917. 

KiRKPATRiCK,  E.  A.— The  Use  of  Money,  Bobbs  Merrill. 

McLellan,  James  A.,  and  Dewey,  John. — The  Psychology 
of  Number,  Appleton. 

Thorndike,  E.  L. — Netv  Method  in  Arithmetic,  Rand. 

Wilson,  G.  M. — A  Survey  of  Social  and  Business  Usage  of 
Arithmetic,  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Educa- 
tion, No.  100. 

Wise,  C.  T. — A  Survey  of  Arithmetic  Problems  Arising  in 
Various  Occupations,  Elementary  School  Journal, 
October,  1919. 

The  Organization  of  Subject  Matter 

The  formal  studies  are  the  results  of  racial  experience. 
Just  as  the  race  formulated  its  generalizations  through 
wider  and  wider  experience,  so  the  child  must  be  led 
through  experience  to  general  conclusions,  from  partic- 
ulars to  universals.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the 
curriculum  cannot  be  a  fixed,  classified  series  of  studies 
formulated  in  advance  and  imposed  upon  the  child  in  a 
formal  way.  Modern  psychology  has  made  clear  that  the 
value  of  special  subjects  apart  from  use  is  a  pedagogical 
myth.  It  is  the  child  and  not  subject-matter  which  deter- 
mines the  organization  of  the  course  of  study.  Out  of  the 
natural  processes  of  experience  properly  guided,  the  cur- 
riculum as  classified  subject-matter  should  extend  over  a 
long  period,  and  he  achieved  gradually  and  naturally. 
** Abandon  the  notion  of  subject-matter  as  something 
fixed  and  ready-made  in  itself,  outside  the  child's  experi- 
ence; cease  thinking  of  the  child's  experience  as  some- 
thing hard  and  fast ;  see  it  as  something  fluent,  embryonic, 
vital,  and  we  realize  that  the  child  and  the  curriculum 
are  simply  two  limits  that  define  a  single  process.  ...  It 
is  continuous  reconstruction  of  experience,  moving  from 
the  child's  present  experience  out  into  that  represented 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  135 

by  the  organized  bodies  of  truth  that  we  call  studies. 
On  the  face  of  it,  the  various  studies,  arithmetic,  geography, 
language,  botany,  etc.,  are  themselves  experience — they 
are  that  of  the  race.  They  embody  the  cumulative 
outcome  of  the  efforts,  the  strivings,  and  successes  of 
the  human  race  generation  after  generation.  They  present 
this,  not  as  a  mere  accumulation,  not  as  a  miscellaneous 
heap  of  separate  bits  of  experience,  but  in  some  organized 
and  systematized  way — that  is,  as  reflectively  formulated. 
Hence,  the  facts  and  truths  that  enter  into  the  child's 
present  experience,  and  those  contained  in  the  subject- 
matter  of  studies,  are  initial  and  final  terms  of  one 
reality."  (John  Dewey,  The  Child  and  the  Curriculum, 
pp.  16-17.*)  According  to  this  view  the  curriculum 
is  the  great  moving  force,  the  effective  instrument  by 
which  two  variables,  the  child  and  the  environment,  are 
mutually  interrelated.  By  means  of  the  curriculum,  child- 
ish experience  is  gradually  released  from  the  narrow  con- 
fines of  the  here  and  the  now  into  universal  conceptions 
of  time  and  space.  **The  world  of  experience  is  one,  not 
many.  .  .  .  The  proper  educator  is  reality,  not  convention- 
alized abstractions  from  reality.  Hence  the  demand  .  .  . 
that  schooling,  particularly  in  its  earlier  stages,  shall  be 
changed  from  an  afflictive  imposition  upon  life  to  a  ration- 
ally concentrated  accomplishment  of  a  portion  of  life  it- 
self. .  .  .  This  reality  as  a  connected  whole,  related  to  the 
pupil,  is  always  the  natural  and  rational  means  of  educa- 
tion. A  sequence  of  studies,  in  the  sense  that  the  pupil 
is  to  be  enjoined  from  intelligent  contact  with  portions  of 
reality  until  other  portions  have  had  their  turn,  is  a  mon- 
strous perversion  of  the  conditions  of  education.  All  real- 
ity, the  whole  plexus  of  social  life,  is  continually  confront- 
ing the  pupil.  No  *  subject'  abstracted  from  this  actual 
whole  is  veracious  to  the  pupil  unless  he  is  permitted  to 
see  it  as  part  of  the  whole.  It  is  a  misconstruction  of 
reality  to  think  and  accordingly  to  act  as  though  one  kind 
of  knowledge  belongs  to  one  age  and  another  to  another. 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.     Copyright  1902  by 
The  University  of  Chicago. 


136  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

The  whole  vast  mystery  of  life,  in  all  its  processes  and 
conditions,  confronts  the  child  as  really  as  it  does  the  sage. 
It  is  the  business  of  the  educator  to  help  the  child  interpret 
the  part  by  the  whole.  Education  from  the  beginning 
should  be  an  initiation  into  science,  language,  philosophy, 
art,  and  political  action  in  the  largest  sense.  When  we 
shall  have  adopted  a  thoroughly  rational  pedagogy,  the 
child  will  begin  to  learn  everything  the  moment  he  begins 
to  learn  anything."  (Albion  Small,  The  Demands  of 
Sociology  upon  Pedagogy,  pp.  21-25.*) 

The  child  with  needs  to  be  met  is  the  starting  point  of 
instruction;  the  subject  matter  is  whatever  meets  those 
needs.  The  curriculum  should  be  a  plastic  flexible  instru- 
ment capable  of  being  employed  by  the  teacher  to  meet 
specific  needs  as  they  arise.  Information  whether  it  be 
geographical,  historic,  scientific  or  what  not  should  be 
sought  as  it  is  needed.  As  a  result  of  such  procedure  we 
should  have  gradually  built  up  an  organically  related  body 
of  subject  matter  following  the  development  of  experience. 
**When  the  child  lives  in  varied  but  concrete  and  active 
relationship  to  this  common  world,  his  studies  are  naturally 
unified.  It  will  no  longer  be  a  problem  to  correlate  studies. 
The  teacher  will  not  have  to  resort  to  all  sorts  of  devices 
to  weave  a  little  arithmetic  into  the  history  lesson,  and 
the  like.  Relate  the  school  to  life,  and  all  studies  are  of 
necessity  correlated."  (John  Dewey,  TJie  School  and 
Society f  p.  80.) 

The  criterion  by  which  the  curriculum  must  be  judged 
is  the  psychological  one — ''what  is  that  study,  considered 
as  a  form  of  living  immediate,  personal  experience  ?  "What 
is  the  interest  in  that  experience?  What  is  the  motive  or 
stimulus  to  it?  How  does  it  act  and  react  with  reference 
to  other  forms  of  experience  ?  How  does  it  gradually  differ- 
entiate itself  from  the  others?  And  how  does  it  function 
so  as  to  give  them  additional  definiteness  and  richness  of 
meaning?  .  .  . 

*' Until  we  ask  such  questions  the  consideration  of  the 
school  curriculum  is  arbitrary  and  partial,  because  we  have 

*Copyright  and  published  hj  A.  Flanagan  Company,  Chicago. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  137 

not  the  ultimate  criterion  for  decision  before  us.  The  prob- 
lem is  not  simply  what  facts  a  child  is  capable  of  grasping 
or  what  facts  can  be  made  interesting  to  him,  but  what 
experience  does  he  himself  have  in  a  given  direction.  The 
subject  must  be  differentiated  out  of  that  experience  in 
accordance  with  its  own  laws.  Unless  we  know  what  these 
laws  are,  what  are  the  intrinsic  stimuli,  modes  of  operation 
and  functions  of  a  certain  form  of  experience,  we  are  prac- 
tically helpless  in  dealing  with  it.  We  may  follow  routine, 
or  we  may  follow  abstract  logical  consideration,  but  we 
have  no  decisive  educational  criterion.  It  is  the  problem  of 
psychology  to  answer  these  questions ;  and  when  we  get  them 
answered,  we  shall  know  how  to  clarify,  build  up,  and  put 
in  order  the  content  of  experience,  so  that  in  time  it  will 
grow  to  include  the  systematic  body  of  facts  which  the 
adult's  consciousness  already  possesses.''  (John  Dewey, 
Psychological  Aspect  of  the  Curriculum.  Educational  Re- 
view, April,  1897,  pp.  362-363.*) 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — ^Article  on  Course  of  Study,  Cyclopaedia  of 

Education. 
Dewey,  John. — The  Child  and  the  Curriculum,  University 

of  Chicago  Press. 
Dewey,  John. — Psychological  Aspect  of  the  School  Cur- 
riculum, Educational  Review,  April,  1897. 
Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 

Chap.  XIV.  The  Nature  of  Subject  Matter. 
Dewey,  John. — Moral  Principles  in  Education,  Houghton.  "^^ 
Chap.  IV.  The  Social  Nature  of  the  Course  of 
Study. 
Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn. — Schools  of  To-morrow,  Dutton. 
Chap.  IV.  The  Reorganization  of  the  Curriculum. 

The  Study  of  Social  Life 

It  may  seem   as  if  the  point  of  view  of  curriculum 
organization   suggested   might   easily   lead   to   haphazard 
*By  permission  George  H.  Doran  Company. 


138  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

progress  and  under  certain  circumstances  to  chaos.  If  we 
are  to  give  up  the  neatly  arranged  course  of  study,  so  much 
ground  covered  each  year,  examined  and  reviewed  upon, 
if  we  are  instead  to  follow  a^  closely  as  possible  the  leadings 
of  childish  interests  and  capacities,  it  is  necessary  to  have 
some  principles  of  organization  in  order  to  see  where  those 
interests  are  leading  and  thus  direct  them.  If  we  refuse 
to  see  true  scientific  sequence  of  subject-matter  in  the 
arbitrary  arrangement  dictated  by  the  teacher  or  the  de- 
mands of  the  daily  program,  have  we  any  other  organiza- 
tion to  suggest? 

We  have  chosen  as  our  definition  of  education  *'the  con- 
tinuous reconstruction  of  experience  with  the  purpose  of 
widening  and  deepening  its  social  content.''  "We  must  find 
within  this  definition  our  principles  of  organization  of  sub- 
ject-matter. Experience  has  only  three  possible  phases: 
present,  past,  and  future.  The  present  is  the  outcome  of 
the  past,  and  the  basis  of  the  future.  These  three  phases 
should  be  the  organization  conceptions  underlying  the  re- 
construction of  experience  by  means  of  the  curriculum. 
The  aim  is  to  give  children : 

(I)  An  ever  widening  knowledge  of  their  present  social 
environment,  radiating  out  from  the  home,  through  the 
neighborhood  into  national  and  international  relationships. 

(II)  Explanations  of  present  situations  by  reference  to 
their  evolution. 

(III)  The  use  of  the  knowledge  thus  gained  for  assessing 
present  conditions  and  formulating  hypotheses  for  social 
reconstruction. 

This  does  not  mean  that  this  classification  is  to  be  used 
in  any  rigid  way;  it  means  merely  that  the  teacher  has 
the  conception  of  the  way  experience  expands  and  deepens 
and  that  she  should  constantly  lead  the  various  experiences 
of  her  pupils  out  in  these  directions. 

READING 

GuNTON,  George. — Economics  in  the  Puhlie  ScJiools,  Ad- 
dresses and  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education 
Association,  1901. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  139 

James,  E.  J. — Training  for  Citizenship,  National  Herbart 
Society,  Third  Year  Book  Supplement. 

James,  E.  J. — The  Place  of  Political  and  Social  Sciences  in 
Modern  Education,  Annals  of  American  Academy  of 
Political  and  Social  Science,  November,  1897. 

Small  and  Vincent. — Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Society, 
American  Book  Co. 

Vincent,  G.  E. — Social  Science  and  the  Curriculum,  Ad- 
dresses and  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education 
Association,  1901. 

Community  Study. — The  function  of  information  is 
gradually  to  extend  children's  experience  by  constantly 
making  clear  the  relationship  between  things  known  and 
personally  experienced  and  things  at  a  distance.  Children's 
ability  to  construct  correct  pictures  of  things  at  a  distance 
is  based  upon  ideas  gained  in  a  vivid  and  real  form  in 
their  own  home  neighborhood.  Hence  the  necessity  of 
utilizing  to  the  fullest  extent  every  phase  of  the  home 
neighborhood  to  build  up  the  conception  of  a  type  of  social 
life  resulting  from  certain  cultural  and  natural  conditions. 
**The  social  desideratum  is  that  the  developing  member  of 
society  shall  become  analytically  and  synthetically  intelli- 
gent about  the  society  to  which  he  belongs.  The  precision 
of  his  social  intelligence  in  general  depends  upon  the  exact- 
ness of  his  knowledge  of  details  in  the  life  which  he  most 
intimately  shares.  Observation  of  the  structure,  functions, 
and  forces  of  life  in  one's  own  community  is  the  normal 
beginning  of  true  and  large  social  intelligence  and  action.  ^' 
(Albion  Small,  The  Demands  of  Sociology  upon  Pedagogy y 
pp.  28-29.)  The  source  material  of  social  life  lies  all  about 
us.  "The  puzzling  world  is  the  student's  own  world  and 
he  may  as  well  begin  to  resolve  the  puzzle  in  his  own  street 
or  school  district."  (Small  and  Vincent,  Introduction  to 
the  Study  of  Society,  p.  16.) 

The  initial  point  of  departure  should  be  the  study  of 
those  particular  phases  of  group  life  which  fall  well 
within  the  circle  of  the  child's  personal  affairs.  One  of 
the  first  and  most  fundamental  relationships  that  need  to 


140  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

be  made  explicit  in  the  child's  experience  are  those  within 
the  home  and  the  relationship  between  the  family  and 
the  neighborhood.  This  is  important  for  a  number  of 
reasons.  The  family  group  is  the  first  social  group  with 
which  the  child  has  definitely  established  social  relations, 
and  in  connection  with  which  all  his  knowledge  must 
function  socially  in  his  every  day  experiences.  The  child 
when  he  first  comes  to  school  knows  related  things  only 
in  connection  with  home  life.  The  family  group  of  each 
child  is  the  focussing  point  of  his  relations  to  the  world 
environment.  It  must  always  remain  a  channel  through 
which  social  experience  comes  to  him.  Moreover  it  repre- 
sents in  little  all  the  important  elements  of  social  rela- 
tionships. It  is  through  family  life  that  the  child  is 
initiated  by  experience  into  the  social  life  of  his  time. 
It  is  clear  that  if  the  aim  of  instruction  is  to  socialize 
a  child's  experience,  its  first  task  is  to  develop  an  under- 
standing of  the  social  relationships  illustrated  in  family 
life.     School  life  then  grows  naturally  out  of  home  life. 

Social  considerations  also  make  this  an  important  task 
for  education.  The  family  is  the  permanent  social  unit; 
it  is  the  means  by  which  social  life  is  advanced.  The 
life  of  society  circles  around  the  family,  supplying  its 
needs,  broadening  its  outlook  so  that  it  is  not  only  physic- 
ally nourished  but  psychically  enriched  and  may  give  back 
to  society  a  better  solution  of  the  social  problem.  A 
more  enlightened  understanding  of  the  values  bound  up 
in  family  life  is  certainly  desirable  from  a  social  point 
of  view.  By  beginning  with  family  relationships  and 
radiating  out  into  wider  and  wider  circles  of  relationships, 
the  school  will  give  socialized  meaning  to  children's  ex- 
periences, constantly  direct  their  attention  to  new  aspects, 
and  lead  the  way  to  new  experiences,  which  will  then  have 
significance  because  their  relationship  to  the  old  is 
realized. 

The  home  plays  spontaneously  engaged  in  by  children 
in  the  play  period,  offer  unending  opportunities  for  devel- 
oping through  discussions  an  understanding  of  the  social 
relationships  involved.     If  organized  around  this  axis, 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  141 

matters  of  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  are  seen  to  be 
integrally  related  to  vital  experience.  The  family  has 
the  responsibility  of  fulfilling  certain  functions  if  social 
life  is  to  be  sustained.  The  important  question  is:  what 
does  the  family  need  to  keep  itself  going  as  a  social 
organization?  It  must  possess  itself  of  material  goods 
to  satisfy  its  needs.  Hence  one  of  the  first  undertakings 
of  the  family  is  providing  a  shelter  and  making  such  addi- 
tions to  it  as  will  provide  not  only  the  necessities  of  life, 
but  those  that  will  make  possible  a  desirable  form  of 
social  life.  It  is  essential  if  any  fixed  and  orderly  rela- 
tions are  to  result,  for  the  family  to  establish  permanent 
relations  with  the  land.  Consideration  of  this  matter 
will  involve  showing  how  the  environmental  factor  enters 
in  to  modify  the  satisfaction  of  human  needs.  The  home 
is  adapted  not  only  to  environmental  but  to  economic 
conditions.  In  order  that  the  home  may  be  maintained 
certain  activities  must  be  engaged  in  to  support  it.  Money 
must  be  earned  not  only  for  present  necessities,  but  enough 
to  provide  against  future  emergencies.  The  family  will 
then  be  seen  to  have  a  direct  relation  to  the  production 
of  wealth.  In  order  that  the  family  may  the  more  ade- 
quately satisfy  its  needs,  a  certain  division  of  labor  and 
certain  forms  of  cooperation  have  been  worked  out  in 
home  relations.  Individual  rights  are  respected,  but  there 
are  certain  duties,  indispensable  to  social  harmony,  re- 
quired of  each  member  of  the  family.  A  certain  regula- 
tory system  has  been  evolved  for  maintaining  social  order. 
The  home  is  not,  however,  an  isolated  unit  complete 
in  itself.  Home  life  connects  up  with  the  community  at 
innumerable  points.  They  are  inextricably  bound  to- 
gether. Each  family  by  virtue  of  some  economic  arrange- 
ment receives  through  the  channels  of  transportation  the 
material  goods  necessary  to  carry  on  its  life.  The  direct 
connection  between  the  home  and  community  may  be 
made  by  making  a  study  of  the  needs  of  the  family  and 
the  means  that  have  been  established  in  community  life 
for  satisfying  them.  The  home  forms  immediate  contacts 
with  a  great  many  persons — ^the  grocer,  the  milkman,  the 


142  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

carpenter,  and  so  on — who  weave  a  network  connecting 
the  home  and  the  community.  Each  person  considered 
is  seen  to  touch  a  great  many  other  persons  each  of  whom 
is  rendering  some  service.  For  instance  the  carpenter 
is  able  to  give  all  his  time  to  building  because  the  grocer, 
the  tailor  and  a  number  of  other  people  provide  him 
with  food,  clothing  and  all  the  other  things  that  he  needs. 
Consideration  of  these  people  leads  to  endless  inquiries 
about  the  people  who  do  this  work :  how  they  live,  where 
they  get  their  products,  what  they  earn,  what  their  prob- 
lems are,  leading  further  and  further  into  the  industrial 
and  social  life  of  the  community  and  exemplifying  the 
principles  of  division  of  labor  and  cooperation. 

From  their  trips  into  the  neighborhood  the  children 
will  perhaps  at  first  gain  a  general  confused  impression 
of  activity  as  characteristic  of  social  life.  The  streets 
are  filled  with  people  going  in  various  directions,  wagons 
and  trucks  are  threading  the  streets,  and  so  on.  The  child 
*'.  .  .  knows  the  railroad  with  its  long  trains  of  freight 
cars  which  load  and  unload  at  the  station;  the  fast  ex- 
press that  stops  scarcely  a  moment  to  let  oif  and  take 
on  passengers.  If  he  lives  near  a  large  river,  the  steamers 
and  sailing  vessels  are  familiar  objects,  and  these,  he 
knows,  carry  goods  and  passengers  like  the  trains.  Maybe 
there  is  a  canal  near  his  home  on  which  the  long,  clumsy- 
looking  boats  are  towed  by  horses  and  mules.  In  the 
village  or  town  in  which  he  lives  there  are  buildings  of  many 
kinds — great  factories  and  mills  where  things  are  made 
and  grain  is  ground  into  flour,  stores  where  things  are 
sold,  homes,  and  schools  and  churches.  Then  there  are  the 
farms  about  the  neighborhood  with  their  broad  fields  of 
wheat  and  corn,  and  their  cattle  and  horses.  No  matter 
where  he  turns  he  sees  work  of  some  kind  going  on.  Some  of 
the  people  are  buying  goods,  others  selling  them ;  some  work 
in  the  mills,  others  on  the  farms,  some  run  the  boats  and 
trains,  others  are  building  houses  or  quarrying  rocks  or 
cutting  down  the  trees  and  sawing  them  up  into  lumber. 
Everywhere  it  is  work,  and  the  child  soon  learns  that  he 
must  work  in  order  to  live."    (S.  Trotter,  The  Social  Func- 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  143 

tion  of  Geography,  National  Herbart  Society,  Fourth  Year 
Book,  p.  64.) 

To  the  child  it  should  appear  that  he  is  learning  about 
people  and  what  they  are  doing,  but  as  the  study  of 
the  community  progresses  this  seemingly  chaotic  activity 
should  be  seen  to  be  dominated  by  fundamental  purposes, 
and  the  great  majority  of  men  to  take  definite  places 
in  a  great  social  organization.  The  story  of  a  community 
is  the  story  of  how  men  cooperate  to  supply  their  needs. 
This  concept  should  be  developed  not  in  any  case  by 
statements  or  generalizations,  but  by  constantly  drawing 
the  attention  of  children  to  the  innumerable  concrete  in- 
stances about  them  that  illustrate  the  principle.  The 
activities  carried  on  by  the  children  in  school  and  their 
trips  into  the  neighborhood  offer  constant  opportunity 
for  giving  insight  through  discussion  into  the  mechanism 
of  social  life.  The  general  plan  should  be  to  lay  a  broad 
basis  in  experience  by  inductive  methods,  and  to  make 
deductions  whenever  sufficient  illustrations  have  been  met 
to  warrant  summarizing.  For  instance,  when  a  sufficient 
number  of  people  supplying  us  with  food  have  come  to 
the  children's  notice,  it  might  be  well  to  make  a  summary 
of  all  the  people  who  supply  us  with  food,  and  thus  show 
our  dependence  on  others  for  food.  The  same  procedure 
could  be  followed  with  other  topics.  Or,  after  sufficient 
knowledge  has  accumulated  through  experience,  it  might 
be  well  to  summarize  by  considering  a  meal  and  seeing 
all  the  dependencies  involved  in  it — or  in  a  day's  experi- 
ence from  morning  till  night. 

The  study  of  the  community  should  include  not  only 
a  consideration  of  the  provisions  for  satisfying  man's 
material  needs,  but  also  those  for  elevating  social  life. 
The  relationship  between  social  life  and  its  economic  basis 
should  be  constantly  pointed  out.  Political  institutions 
should  be  viewed  as  the  means  evolved  to  regulate  social 
life  so  that  it  may  develop  most  advantageously.  The 
study  of  the  community  as  a  whole  when  it  has  reached 
that  point  might  be  summarized  as  a  community  survey. 
For  older  children  who  understand  the  significance  of 


144 


THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 


maps,  the  making  of  a  social  map  of  the  neighborhood 
showing  the  location  of  stores,  factories,  parks,  railroads, 
and  all  the  other  provisions  for  supplying  community 
needs,  is  an  impressive  way  of  summarizing  the  social 
resources  of  the  neighborhood. 

Following  is  a  tabular  statement  of  the  typical  way 
in  which  a  community  attempts  to  satisfy  its  needs.  Since 
a  community  is  such  a  complicated  network,  in  which 
many  elements  overlap,  it  is  difficult  to  reduce  it  to  any 
classified  form.  This  classification  is  not  intended  to  be 
anything  more  than  a  suggestion  which  may  perhaps  be 
helpful  in  clarifying  the  idea. 

COMMUNITY  RESPONSES  TO  FAMILY  NEEDS 


Needs 

Responses 

I.  Economic  (Physical 

Needs) 

, 

Production ■ 

'  Farming 
Dairying 
Fishing 

Foods   (kinds)    \ 

Tra,n  sf  ormation 

Slaughter 
Canning  Factories 
,  Bakeries,  etc. 

Transportation 

(See  special  heading) 

Distribution . . .  - 

f  Markets 

I  Grocery  stores,  etc. 

Preparation 

Cooking 
Serving 
Cotton-raising 

1 
Production 

Flax-raising 
Silk  culture 
Sheep  and  cattle  raising 

Clothing  (kinds 
and  accessories) 

Transformation- 
Transportation  (s 
Distribution — De 

-Factories,  etc. 
ee  special  heading) 
partment  stores,  etc. 
'■  Dressmakers 

.Making 

Tailors 
.  Milliners,  etc. 

THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS 


145 


Need* 


Shelter     (and 
furnishings) 


Responses 

{Lumbering 
Mining 
Quarrying,  etc. 
/MUls 

1  Glass-making,  etc. 
Transportation. (see  special  heading) 
Builders 


Transformation 


,  Supply. 


Supply  stores 
Contractors 
,  Architects 

'  Streets 
Roads 
Railroads 
Water  traffic 
,  Vehicles 
Banks 
■  Brokers,  etc. 
Insurance 
II.  Social  (Need  for  Social  Intercourse) 

r  Post  office 


Transportation 


Conservation  of 
Wealth 


Communication 


Education. 


Recreation. 


ReHgion. 


Pathological 
Phenomena 


Telephone 
Telegraph 
Wireless 
Newspaper 
.  Books,  etc. 

{Schools 
Colleges 
Libraries,  etc. 

'  Clubs 
Theatres 
Movmg  Pictures 
Art  Galleries 
Music 
Parks 


f  Churches 

\  Charity  Organizations 
f  Insane  asylums 
\  Poor  houses,  etc. 


146 


THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 


III.  Political  (The  Means  of  Regulating  I  and  II). 
Needs  Responses 

1.  Against  fire — Fire  depart- 
ment. 
Garbage 
Sewerage 
Protection    and     2.  Against  Drainage 

defence  of  life  <      disease  Board  of 

and   property  Health 

Hospitals 
3.  Against  r  Police    de- 
anti- social  -j     partment 
persons         [  Jails 

(Laws 
Courts 
Lawyers,  etc. 
A  knowledge  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  the 
neighborhood,  should  be  developed  as  they  are  observed 
in  their  effect  upon  the  life  of  the  community.  In  con- 
nection with  the  occupations  carried  on  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, the  children  may  be  led  to  discover  the  reason  for 
their  location  in  the  physical  advantages  afforded.  Con- 
sideration of  the  absence  of  certain  necessities  in  the 
neighborhood  and  the  reason  for  their  absence  will  make 
clear  the  necessity  for  transportation  and  commerce.  In 
tracing  necessities  to  their  sources  and  discussing  the 
geographic  conditions  necessary  to  their  growth  and 
manufacture,  we  may  gradually  build  up  a  concept  of 
the  influence  of  nature  upon  the  life  of  man,  and  of  the 
interdependence  of  people  not  only  upon  the  home  neigh- 
borhood but  upon  the  whole  world. 

The  complexity  of  contemporary  social  life  is,  however, 
so  great  that  it  is  difficult  for  children  to  grasp  its  funda- 
mental significance,  so  that  it  is  frequently  necessary  to 
analyze  the  situation  into  simpler  elements.  By  going 
back  into  the  past  and  showing  how  various  social  ar- 
rangements came  into  existence  in  response  to  man's 
needs,  and  by  tracing  their  development  step  by  step, 
their  present  complex  aspect  may  be  explained.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  the  study  of  primitive  life  is  of  great 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  147 

importance  in  throwing  light  upon  the  origin  of  a  number 
of  the  necessities  of  our  every  day  life.  It  may  be  taken 
up  with  great  profit  in  connection  with  the  study  of 
community  life.  Such  a  motive  indeed  presents  the  only 
legitimate  excuse  for  undertaking  the  study,  and  suggests 
the  type  of  work  to  be  undertaken.  In  primitive  life  we 
have  man  of  a  rather  simple  type  in  direct  contact  with 
the  forces  of  nature,  and  face  to  face  with  fundamental 
economic  and  social  problems.  It  is  easy  for  even  young 
children  to  grasp  the  significance  of  the  situation,  and 
to  appreciate  the  ingenuity  and  inventive  genius  of  man, 
by  which  he  brings  the  forces  and  resources  of  nature 
under  the  control  of  his  purposes,  and  thus  lays  the  founda- 
tion for  our  own  supremacy.  By  such  a  study  children 
may  lay  a  broad  basis  for  understanding  the  economic 
foundations  of  their  own  community  life.  If  undertaken 
for  this  purpose  the  work  will  take  on  a  more  serious 
aspect  than  is  characteristic  of  such  work  in  many  schools, 
where  the  object  seems  to  be  nothing  more  than  to  interest 
children  in  the  picturesque  and  bizarre  features  of  primi- 
tive life.  It  will  suggest,  too,  a  substitution  of  more 
scientific  reading  matter  for  many  of  the  school  texts 
which  give  a  highly  diluted  if  not  altogether  false  idea 
of  the  period.  Fortunately  we  have  a  wealth  of  anthro- 
pological material  which  enables  us  to  see  our  customs, 
usages,  and  social  institutions  in  early  stages  of  develop- 
ment, to  see  how  they  came  into  being,  and  what  their 
reflex  was  in  advancing  social  life.  And  there  are  a 
number  of  good  books  written  for  children  based  upon 
authoritative  sources.  The  children  should  be  led  to  re- 
produce imaginatively  the  situation  of  the  people  under 
consideration.  They  should  be  made  fully  acquainted 
with  the  conditions  under  which  they  lived,  and  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  same  problems.  They  may  then 
try  to  find  solutions  to  these  problems,  and  by  constant 
comparison  between  their  solutions  and  those  of  the 
people  studied,  they  may  gain  a  vivid  realization  of  the 
ingenuity  of  primitive  peoples  in  thinking  out  solutions 
to  their  problems.    Step  by  step  they  can  trace  the  needs 


148  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

that  called  forth  certain  modes  of  activity;  they  can  be 
led  to  understand  how  each  successive  invention  lifted 
man  to  a  higher  social  plane  and  enabled  him  to  conquer 
new  forces  of  nature  hitherto  undiscovered ;  they  can  see 
the  beginnings  of  those  fundamental  laws  of  associated 
living — division  of  labor  and  cooperation  in  a  common 
cause.  Consideration  of  how  men  have  subjugated  nature 
by  learning  its  secrets,  how  they  have  learned  to  coooperate 
with  one  another  for  common  ends,  gives  the  key  to  the 
study  of  history;  it  gives  some  principle  of  selection 
among  the  great  mass  of  material  that  is  now  available, 
indicating  what  is  essential  and  what  is  trivial  in  the 
mass  of  facts  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  past. 
**When  history  is  conceived  as  dynamic,  as  moving,  its 
economic  and  industrial  aspects  are  emphasized.  These 
are  but  technical  terms  which  express  the  problem  with 
which  humanity  is  unceasingly  engaged;  how  to  live, 
how  to  master  and  use  nature  so  as  to  make  it  tributary 
to  the  enrichment  of  human  life.  The  great  advances  in 
civilization  have  come  through  those  manifestations  of 
intelligence  which  have  lifted  man  from  his  precarious 
subjection  to  nature,  and  revealed  to  him  how  he  may 
make  its  forces  cooperate  with  his  own  purposes.  The 
social  world  in  which  the  child  now  lives  is  so  rich  and 
full  that  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  much  it  cost,  how  much 
effort  and  thought  lie  back  of  it.  Man  has  a  tremendous 
equipment  ready  at  hand.  The  child  may  be  led  to  trans- 
late these  ready-made  resources  into  fluid  terms;  he  may 
be  led  to  see  man  face  to  face  with  nature,  without  in- 
herited capital,  without  tools,  without  manufactured  ma- 
terials. And,  step  by  step,  he  may  follow  the  processes 
by  which  man  recognized  the  needs  of  his  situation, 
thought  out  the  weapons  and  instruments  thai  enable  him 
to  cope  with  them ;  and  may  learn  how  these  new  resources 
opened  new  horizons  of  growth  and  created  new  problems. ' ' 
(John  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society y  pp.  156-157.*)   Such 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyriglit  1900  by 
The  University  of  Chicago.  Copyright  1900  and  1915  by  John 
Dewey. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  149 

a  method  of  historical  study  is  valuable  in  giving  the  child 
an  insight  into  what  might  be  called  the  technique  of 
progress. 

Since  the  object  of  historical  study  is  not  an  enumeration 
of  the  various  external  changes  that  have  taken  place  in 
the  past,  as  is  the  case  when  history  is  conceived  of  as 
chronology,  it  is  not  necessary  with  young  children,  at 
least,  that  historical  sequence  be  observed.  Whenever  prob- 
lems arise  with  reference  to  the  child's  natural  and  social 
environment  which  require  the  use  of  historical  subject- 
matter  for  their  solution,  the  subject-matter  may  be  selected 
from  the  racial  experiences  of  any  age.  Whenever  a  study 
of  past  conditions  is  made,  care  should  be  exercised  to 
bring  the  minds  of  the  children  back  to  the  present  situa- 
tion. Constant  comparisons  between  the  present  and  the 
past  will  bring  out  the  advance  in  social  conditions  brought 
about  by  historical  changes. 

Besides  the  study  of  primitive  life  local  history  also 
becomes  of  great  importance  in  explaining  community  char- 
acteristics. It  may  be  developed  by  means  of  trips  to 
places  of  historic  interest  in  the  neighborhood,  and  by 
studying  real  historic  documents  and  relics  in  museums 
and  other  places.  Such  work  is  valuable  in  giving  children 
experience  in  the  methods  of  real  historical  inquiry  and 
research,  and  in  doing  away  with  the  idea  that  history  is 
something  which  resides  in  books. 

These  vivid  first  hand  contacts  with  the  industrial,  social 
and  political  life  that  touch  the  child  on  every  hand  should 
furnish  a  wealth  of  facts  from  which  rational  relation- 
ships should  be  realized  in  the  complex  world  in  which  the 
child  finds  himself.  If  the  study  of  the  home  community 
has  been  developed  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of 
the  dynamic  point  of  view,  children  will  not  be  left  with  the 
idea  that  the  community  is  a  static  organization.  Through 
historical  study  they  will  come  to  look  upon  society  as  an 
evolving  process  dependent  upon  the  interaction  of  certain 
forces.  The  value  of  the  genetic  method  of  studying  history 
is  precisely  that  it  contributes  to  this  point  of  view.  The 
children  should  see  their  present  community  as  the  outcome 


150  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

of  the  interplay  of  certain  social  forces  in  the  past.  They 
should  be  led  to  see  that  there  are  certain  conditions  and 
problems  which  have  been  created  by  the  growing  com- 
plexity of  social  life,  and  which  we  have  as  yet  not  been 
successful  in  solving.  In  discussions  of  these  problems 
points  of  view  should  be  developed  as  to  methods  of  solving 
them. 

READING 

TJie  Social  Studies  in  Secondary  Education.    U.  S.  Bureau 

of  Education,  Bulletin,  1916,  No.  28. 
The  Teacliing  of  Community  Civics.    U.  S.  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation, Bulletin,  1915,  No.  23. 
Aronovici,  C. — The  Social  Survey,  Harper  Press,  Phila. 
Byington,  M. — What  Social  Workers  Should  Know  about 

Their  Own  Communities,  Russell  Sage  Foundation. 
Camp,  K.  B. — Primitive  History  in  Primary  Groups  of 

the  Laboratory  School,   Elementary  School  Teacher, 

October,  1903. 
Dana,  J.  C. — The  Study  of  a  City  in  the  Schools  of  That 

City,  Pedagogical  Seminary,  1911. 
Dewey,  John. — The  School  and  Society.     University  of 

Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  VIII.  The  Aim  of  History  in  Elementary 
Education. 
Dunn,  a.  "W. — Civic  Education  in  Elementary  Schools  as 

Illustrated  in  Indianxipolis,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education, 

Bulletin,  1915,  No.  17. 
Hill,  M. — The  Teaching  of  Civics,  Houghton. 
Todd,  A.  J. — The  Teaching  of  Sociology  to  Undergraduates, 

Proceedings  American  Sociological  Society,  1918. 
Trotter,  S. — The  Social  Function  of  Geography,  National 

Herbart  Society,  Fourth  Year  Book. 

Our  National  Life. — The  laboratory  study  of  the  home 
community  developed  through  first-hand  information  repre- 
sents a  type  study  showing  the  social  elements  in  a  com- 
munity as  responses  for  the  more  effective  satisfaction  of 
the  common  needs  of  the  people  in  it.    The  information  so 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  151 

gained  acts  as  a  body  of  reference  material  valuable  in 
understanding  places  at  a  distance.  By  constant  compar- 
ison of  regions  further  away  with  the  home  community,  in 
which  likenesses  and  differences  are  noted  and  the  reason 
for  them  sought,  it  is  possible  to  develop  an  understanding 
of  places  not  in  the  immediate  experience  of  the  children. 
Certain  social  facts  will  be  seen  to  be  common  to  all  com- 
munities; others  will  be  seen  to  be  characteristic  of  the 
peculiar  conditions  of  the  place  under  consideration.  By 
this  process  we  can  gradually  build  up  the  child's  relation- 
ship to  city,  nation,  and  the  world.  Among  the  larger 
social  units  to  be  early  considered  is  our  own  country,  since 
it  is  the  one  with  which  the  child  through  his  own  travels 
and  those  of  his  family  and  friends  has  probably  already 
first-hand  experience,  and  it  is  the  one  with  which  his  later 
experience  will  be  most  intimately  concerned  and  about 
wliich  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  have  more  detailed  basic 
knowledge. 

When  the  United  States  is  studied  as  so  much  geography, 
so  much  history,  so  much  civil  government,  the  knowledge 
thus  gained  tends  to  remain  stratified ;  it  is  not  organized 
into  a  unity  that  gives  a  conception  of  national  life  as  an 
organic  whole.  National  life  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  form 
of  social  life  that  is  organized  into  a  political  unity.  It  is 
the  result  of  the  interplay  of  many  factors,  but  they  may 
all,  perhaps,  be  looked  upon  as  the  result  of  the  interaction 
of  the  following:  (1)  The  People  (that  is,  a  people  with  a 
certain  experience  back  of  them,  which  has  resulted  in  a 
certain  cultural  inheritance  and  certain  cultural  ideals)^ 
(2)  The  Territory  (that  is,  the  peculiar  features  of  the 
land  inhabited,  which  offer  certain  obstacles  or  advantages 
to  economic  and  social  development).  (3)  The  Form  of 
Government  (that  is,  the  type  of  regulatory  control  worked 
out  in  order  to  facilitate  relations  between  (1)  and  (2)  ). 
The  study  of  the  United  States,  then,  should  be  the  study 
of  the  particular  form  of  nationality  developed  here  in  this 
particular  territory  offering  certain  national  advantages 
and  disadvantages,  and  of  the  type  of  political  control 
worked  out  as  the  result  of  our  peculiar  national  conditions. 


152  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

The  study  should  broaden  out  into  a  wide  survey  of  our 
industrial  and  social  institutions  with  accompanying  en- 
vironmental explanations.  Care  should  be  taken  not  to 
develop  the  idea  that  the  United  States  is  an  isolated  unit ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  should  be  seen  to  be  bound  at  innumer- 
able points  to  all  the  other  nations  of  the  world  by  the 
strong  bonds  of  economic  dependence. 

Explanation  of  every  point  discussed  makes  constant 
recourse  to  history  inevitable.  Here  again  precautions 
should  be  taken  to  show  the  close  connection  between 
America  and  the  rest  of  the  world.  America  was  discovered 
^  by  Europeans  in  their  effort  to  find  a  shorter  route  to  India 
and  the  riches  of  the  East;  it  has  been  built  up  by  suc- 
cessive waves  of  migration  from  Europe,  and  its  population 
is  being  constantly  fed  by  a  steady  stream  of  immigration 
from  all  nations.  *'The  early  history  of  our  country  as 
usually  told  is  little  more  than  the  narrative  of  the  exploits 
of  Columbus,  Ponce  de  Leon,  De  Soto,  Champlain,  Mar- 
quette, Joilet,  La  Salle,  John  Smith,  and  a  host  of  other  men 
who  stand  out  as  discoverers  and  explorers.  .  .  .  The 
economic  and  industrial  condition  of  Europe,  which  was  the 
direct  cause  of  the  period  of  discovery ;  the  fact  that  America 
was  never  sought,  but  stumbled  on ;  that  when  found  it  was 
not  wanted;  that  much  of  its  exploration  v/as  due  to  per- 
sistent efforts  to  get  a  way  around  it,  to  discover  a  northwest 
or  a  southwest  passage  to  India,  are  lost  sight  of  in  the  doings 
of  particular  men.  .  .  .  The  motive  for  discovery,  the  effect 
of  discovery  upon  the  geographical  ideas  of  the  time,  the 
reasons  why  the  four  great  maritime  powers  of  Europe  came 
into  possession  of  our  country,  why  the  Dutch  acquired  the 
Hudson,  the  Spaniards  occupied  our  Gulf  Coast,  the 
English  the  Atlantic  Coast,  and  the  French  the  Great  Lakes 
and  the  Mississippi,  and  the  profound  and  lasting  influence 
this  particular  arrangement  of  European  settlers  had  on  our 
later  history,  these  are  the  things  it  concerns  us  to  know, 
rather  than  the  doings  of  particular  men  and  the  Indian 
wars  of  particular  colonies. 

**A  knowledge  of  the  industrial  and  economic  condition 
of  Europe  and  Great  Britain  again  is  necessary  to  a  correct 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  153 

understanding  of  the  period  of  colonization ;  what  drove  the 
settlers  to  Jamestown  and  Quebec,  what  sort  of  people  they 
were,  what  customs,  usages,  institutions,  political  ideas  they 
brought  and  planted  in  the  new  world,  is  all  important  .  .  . 
The  steady  movement  of  the  English  westward  from  the 
Atlantic;  the  spread  of  the  French  into  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  and  their  occupation  of  it  to  the  headwaters  of 
the  Ohio ;  the  great  difference  in  the  manner  of  occupation 
by  these  two  peoples,  the  French  building  forts  and  taking 
military  occupation;  the  English  building  towns,  opening 
up  farms  and  taking  possession  by  actual  settlement,  the 
effect  this  difference  had  on  the  long  struggle  for  possession,, 
are  rarely,  if  ever,  presented  to  the  school-boy.  .  .  . 

'*He  should  see  our  country  as  it  was  when  Washington 
was  first  inaugurated,  a  country  vast  in  extent  with  its 
people  gathered  on  a  narrow  strip  along  the  seaboard  and 
just  beginning  their  march  westward;  he  should  see  them 
destitute  of  manufactures,  of  machines,  of  great  industries, 
of  easy  and  rapid  means  of  communication;  he  should  see 
the  arts  and  sciences  in  a  rudimentary  state,  and  he  should 
see  the  differences  in  habits,  customs,  occupations,  which 
were  peculiar  to  the  people  of  the  eastern  states,  the  middle 
states  and  the  south.  The  attention  of  the  student  should 
be  called  to  the  fact  that  innumerable  trades,  occupations, 
industries,  professions,  callings  that  now  afford  a  livelihood 
to  millions  of  people  had  then  no  existence;  that  articles 
and  conveniences  with  which  he  is  perfectly  familiar  and 
which  have  come  to  be  looked  on  as  necessities  of  life 
were  then  unknown,  and  that  the  lot  of  every  man  in  every 
walk  of  life  was  far  harder  than  at  present.  When  this 
condition  has  been  shown  and  understood,  the  boy  should 
follow  step  by  step  the  wonderful  progress  from  what  was 
to  what  is.  He  should  see  our  people  hurrying  westward 
in  three  great  streams  pushing  the  frontier  before  them 
across  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  Mississippi  River,  over 
the  great  plains  to  the  Pacific,  building  cities,  founding 
states,  developing  the  resources  of  our  country.  He  should 
Bee  the  northern  stream  engaged  in  a  thousand  forms  of 
diversified  industry,  and  the  southern  stream  ignoring  com- 


154  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

merce  and  manufactures  and  devoting  its  energies  to  grow- 
ing cotton  and  tobacco,  and  he  should  be  made  to  see  how 
from  these  two  opposite  economic  conditions  grew  in  time 
two  separate  and  distinct  people,  with  utterly  different 
ideas,  institutions,  customs,  and  purposes  in  life,  and  when 
this  has  been  made  clear  to  him  he  will  understand  the 
Civil  War.  To  present  such  a  history  in  slices  four  years 
thick  and  labelled  with  the  names  of  presidents,  or  as  a  dry 
record  of  Congress  and  the  doings  of  the  political  leaders 
of  the  hour  is  to  destroy  its  meaning  and  render  it  valueless. 
To  tell  a  child  that  Fulton  invented  the  steamboat,  Howe 
the  sewing-machine,  Morse  the  telegraph,  Hoe  the  steam 
printing-press.  Bell  the  telephone,  Goodyear  vulcanized 
India-rubber,  is  idle  if  the  story  stops  there.  The  thing  to 
be  impressed  upon  him  is  that  these  great  inventions  and 
discoveries  .  .  .  have  bettered  the  condition  of  civilized  men 
everywhere,  and  are  contributions  to  human  welfare  made 
by  America."  (J.  B.  McMaster,  The  Social  Function  of 
United  States  History.  National  Herbart  Society,  Fourth 
Year  Book,  pp.  26-30.*) 

As  American  history  is  frequently  taught,  the  seeds  of 
dislike  and  distrust  of  other  nations  are  often  sown.  The 
pupil  *  *  can  proceed  through  his  course  of  American  history 
with  no  suspicion  of  Europe  save  as  a  place  from  which 
discoverers  set  sail  and  colonists  departed,  and  as  the  abode 
of  men  whose  evil  plans  got  good  Americans  into  wars,  and 
whose  affairs  and  governments  in  general  are  such  that  the 
less  Americans  have  to  do  with  them  the  better.  ...  It 
must  be  taught  for  what  it  is — ^largely  a  reflection  of  Euro- 
pean movements  and  problems  .  .  .  which  are  still  affected 
by  every  change  in  the  life  of  Europe,  and  which  correspond 
to  what  is  going  on  all  over  the  world  because  of  the  opera- 
tion of  world-wide  forces.  .  .  .  Our  own  past  history 
appears  as  a  drama  between  the  angels  of  light  and  the 
demons  of  darkness,  between  forces  of  freedom  and  enslave- 
ment, where  victory  has  ever  been  on  the  side  of  the  right. 
Our  constitution  and  institutions  generally  are  the  embodi- 

*By  permiBsion  Public  School  Publishing  Company,  Bloomington, 
IllinoiB.    Copyright  1898  by  Chas.  A.  McMurry. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  155 

ment  of  the  achieved  and  final  victory  of  good  ...  we  do 
need  some  way  of  making  intellectually  clear  that  there  never 
was* a  struggle  between  pure  good  and  pure  evil;  and  that 
there  is  now,  as  there  always  has  been,  a  struggle  between 
interests  entrenched  in  law,  institutions,  and  social  conven- 
tion, and  the  requirements  of  further  enlightenment  and 
emancipation."  (John  Dewey,  The  Schools  and  Social  Pre- 
paredness, The  New  Republic,  May  6, 1916,  pp.  15-16.*)  An 
understanding  of  the  real  significance  of  our  national  his- 
tory, a  realization  of  how  our  national  ideals  have  been 
built  up,  is  essential  to  a  rational  solution  of  present-day 
problems,  and  as  a  background  for  the  better  organization 
of  social  and  economic  conditions  so  that  the  nation  may  be 
better  able  to  do  its  work  in  the  world.  We  must  have  a 
clear  understanding  of  what  Americanism  is,  or  we  shall 
scarcely  be  successful  in  our  efforts  to  further  it. 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — Nationalizing  Education,  Addresses   and 

Proceedings   of   the  National  Education  Association, 

1916. 
Dewey,  John. — The  Schools,  and  Social  Preparedness^  New 

Republic,  May  6,  1916. 
McMaster,  J.  B. — The  Social  Function  of  United  States 

History,  National  Herbart  Society,  Fourth  Year  Book. 

The  Study  of  Other  Nations. — Just  as  the  home  com- 
munity is  a  type  for  understanding  the  community  ele- 
ments of  any  place  far  away,  the  national  unit  becomes  a 
type  for  the  study  of  other  nationalities.  The  study  of 
social  life  in  other  countries  has  become  a  part  of  the  cur- 
riculum of  many  elementary  schools,  beginning  quite  early 
with  stories  of  child  life  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  Too 
often  in  selecting  these  studies  the  picturesque  and  bizarre 
features  of  other  nations  are  specialized — such  as  the 
wooden  shoes  and  windmills  of  the  Dutch,  the  quaint  cus- 
toms of  Japanese  home  life,  and  the  like.    There  is  great 

*By  permission  The  New  Republic. 


156  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

danger  that  the  over-emphasis  of  these  features  may  give  a 
very  incorrect  impression  of  the  life  of  foreign  peoples.  A 
more  rational  standard  for  studying  foreign  nations  would 
be  something  inherent  in  the  experience  of  the  children. 
There  are  innumerable  points  of  contact  between  the  ex- 
perience of  children  and  conditions  in  remote  parts  of  the 
world  which  can  be  made  the  starting-point  of  instruction. 
In  the  case  of  children  of  foreign-born  parents,  this  might 
be  the  consideration  of  the  lands  from  which  they  came  to 
America;  current  events  furnish  constant  connections  that 
might  be  made  use  of;  and  the  study  of  the  home  com- 
munity and  our  own  country  leads  constantly  to  foreign 
countries  in  tracing  the  things  we  need  in  our  homes  to  the 
places  where  they  originated.  These  points  of  contact  can 
easily  be  made  use  of  to  extend  the  experience  of  the  chil- 
dren to  a  consideration  of  the  types  of  social  life  in  various 
parts  of  the  world  which  are  responses  to  varying  environ- 
mental and  cultural  conditions.  Constant  comparison  of 
points  of  similarity  and  difference  should  lead  to  a  broader 
and  broader  comprehension  of  the  bases  upon  which  various 
forms  of  social  life  rest.  The  study  of  the  industrial  con- 
nection between  various  nations  ought  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
whole  world  inevitably  bound  together  by  the  ties  of  eco- 
nomic necessity. 

Ideas  of  present  conditions  should  be  strengthened  by 
constant  excursions  into  the  past  for  explanations.  A  study 
of  the  people  of  various  nations  and  their  origin  and 
development,  alone  leads  to  comprehension  of  their  various 
characteristics.  Gradually  out  of  such  historical  study 
there  should  develop  a  realization  of  the  great  events  that 
have  worked  together  for  the  civilization  of  the  world,  and 
of  the  particular  contributions  of  the  great  nations  of  the 
past.  In  this  way  the  children  may  come  to  understand 
under  what  conditions  and  in  what  directions  we  may  pro- 
gress most  rapidly.  **  Society  is  to-day  engaged  in  a 
tremendous  and  unprecedented  effort  to  better  itself  in 
manifold  ways.  .  .  .  The  part  that  each  of  us  can  play  in 
forwarding  some  phase  of  this  reform  will  depend  upon  our 
understanding  of  existing  conditions  and  opinion,  and  these 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  157 

can  only  be  explained,  as  has  been  shown,  by  following  more 
or  less  carefully  the  processes  that  produced  them.  We  must 
develop  historical-mindedness  on  a  far  more  generous  scale 
than  hitherto,  for  this  will  add  a  still  deficient  element  in  our 
intellectual  equipment  and  will  promote  rational  progress 
as  nothing  else  can  do.  The  present  has  hitherto  been  the 
willing  victim  of  the  past ;  the  time  has  now  come  when  it 
should  turn  on  the  past  and  exploit  it  in  the  interests  of 
advance."  (J.  H.  Robinson,  The  New  History,  pp.  23-24.) 
By  a  study  of  national  histories,  by  reading  for  enjoy- 
ment the  literature  and  folk-lore  of  the  peoples  studied,  by 
listening  to  their  music,  by  learning  of  their  customs,  laws, 
religion,  and  scientific  achievements,  and  their  contributions 
to  art — by  thus  relieving  the  life  of  any  people  and  appre- 
ciating their  problems  and  their  accomplishments,  the  chil- 
dren will  come  to  have  an  intelligent  regard  for  that  people. 
They  will  see  the  ideals  and  characteristics  of  one  nation, 
not  as  better  or  worse  than  ours,  but  as  different — the  out- 
come of  a  specific  set  of  conditions.  They  should  gain  an 
idea  of  the  value  of  these  characteristics  not  as  forces  to 
separate  people,  but  to  unite  them,  giving  a  variety  to  social 
life  that  would  otherwise  be  lacking.  It  is  only  by  such 
study  that  a  narrow  provincial  interpretation  of  patriotism 
can  be  made  to  give  way  to  a  bigger,  broader  conception  of 
it.  "In  all  our  thoughts  we  think  in  terms  of  our  own 
social  environment.  But  the  activities  of  the  human  mind 
exhibit  an  infinite  variety  of  form  among  the  peoples  of  the 
world.  In  order  to  understand  these  clearly,  the  student 
must  endeavor  to  divest  himself  entirely  of  opinions  and 
emotions  based  upon  the  peculiar  social  environment  into 
which  he  is  bom.  He  must  adapt  his  own  mind,  so  far  as 
feasible,  to  that  of  the  people  whom  he  is  studying.  The 
more  successful  he  is  in  freeing  himself  from  the  bias  based 
on  the  group  of  ideas  that  constitute  the  civilization  in 
which  he  lives,  the  more  successful  he  will  be  in  interpreting 
the  beliefs  and  actions  of  man.  He  must  follow  lines  of 
thought  that  are  new  to  him.  He  must  participate  in  new 
emotions,  and  understand  how,  under  unwonted  conditions, 
both  lead  to  actions.    Beliefs,  customs,  and  the  response  of 


158  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

the  individual  to  the  events  of  daily  life,  give  us  ample 
opportunity  to  observe  the  manifestations  of  the  mind  of 
man  under  varying  conditions."  (Franz  Boas,  The  Mind 
of  Primitive  Man,  pp.  97-98.) 

Mr.  Clarence  Kingsley  has  given  in  '^ School  and  Society" 
a  suggestive  account  of  how  this  kind  of  study  might 
be  conducted  in  school:  ''The  class  would  begin  with 
the  study  of  the  Russian  people  of  to-day,  their  social 
institutions,  their  industrial  and  agricultural  organization, 
their  manners  and  customs,  and  their  national  character- 
istics as  revealed  in  their  present-day  contributions  to  the 
arts  and  sciences.  We  would  then  turn  to  the  his- 
torian and  ask  him  to  tell  us  what  he  can  about  the  events 
and  causes  that  have  made  the  people  what  they  are  to-day. 
We  have  here  a  basis  for  the  selection  of  significant  his- 
torical material.  We  would  then  turn  to  the  geographer 
and  we  would  ask  him  to  tell  us  what  he  can  about  the 
elements  in  the  geographical  location  that  have  helped  in 
the  making  of  this  people. 

Our  study  of  the  Russian  people  would  not,  however,  end 
here,  but  instead  the  really  fruitful  part  would  begin  at  this 
point,  for  the  class  would  now  be  in  a  position  to  gain  some 
conception  of  the  possible  development  of  this  nation  in 
the  family  of  nations.  And  then  in  view  of  this  compre- 
hensive study,  they  should  discuss  the  relations  that  should 
exist  between  our  nation  and  the  Russian  people  as  a 
nation.  .  .  . 

''We  should  not,  however,  omit  a  study  of  typical  back- 
ward peoples.  I  would  use  the  term  backward  rather  than 
semi-civilized  because  the  term  backward  is  consistent  with 
an  ethical  attitude  toward  these  peoples;  for  in  our  study 
of  them  we  should  lay  particular  stress  upon  the  attempt 
to  find  in  them  the  possibilities  that  will,  if  they  are 
properly  treated,  lead  them  to  make  their  own  distinctive 
contribution  to  civilization.  .  .  . 

"The  danger  to  be  avoided  above  all  others  is  the  ten- 
dency to  claim  that  one  nation  has  a  sweeping  superiority 
over  others.  The  claim  of  such  superiority  among  nations 
as  among  individuals   is  a  sure   cause   of  irreconcilable 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  159 

hatred.  The  cure  for  this  narrow  and  partisan  attitude  is 
to  be  found  in  the  broad  conception  that  humanity  is 
greater  than  any  one  nation. 

"The  idea  should  be  developed  that  every  nation  has,  or 
may  have,,  something  of  worth  to  contribute  to  other  nations 
and  to  humanity  as  a  whole,  and  that  consequently  human- 
ity would  be  incomplete  and  one-sided  without  that  contri- 
bution. This  conception,  when  thoroughly  inculcated, 
would  lead  to  a  national  respect  of  other  nations,  and  would 
cause  us  to  regard  the  continued  existence  and  development 
of  all  nations  as  essential  to  the  development  of  civilization. 
We  cannot  expect  that  a  principle  so  fundamental  and 
comprehensive  can  be  inculcated  in  the  abstract,  but 
through  a  specific  study  of  many  nations,  the  achievements 
and  possibilities  of  each  of  which  have  been  studied  in  the 
concrete,  this  idea  may  become  established. 

' '  This  conception  of  the  supplementary  value  of  the  dis- 
similarities of  different  nations  and  peoples,  together  with 
the  ideal  of  human  brotherhood  which  is  generally  thought 
of  in  terms  of  essential  similarity,  should  do  much  to  estab- 
lish genuine  internationalism,  free  from  sentimentality, 
founded  on  fact,  and  actually  operative  in  the  affairs  of 
nations.  .  .  .  While  the  pupil  may  not  learn  very  much 
history  as  such  from  this  new  course,  the  history  he  does 
learn  will  be  organized  around  problems  that  are  of  vital 
importance  to-day,  and  the  teachers  will  have  need  of  all 
the  knowledge,  historical,  sociological  and  geographical, 
that  they  possess  and  can  acquire  about  the  people  to  be 
studied.  .  .  . 

* ' .  .  .  the  results  which  I  believe  should  follow  from  this 
study  when  organized  rightly  and  conducted  in  the  proper 
spirit:  (1)  It  would  tend  to  reduce  friction  in  international 
relations,  as  such  friction  often  results  from  popular  clamor 
born  of  a  lack  of  understanding  of  foreign  nations.  Our 
friendly  relations  with  Japan  have  been  jeopardized  hy  just 
such  clamor.  (2)  It  would  help  us  to  a  truer  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  the  foreigners  who  come  to  our  shores. 
Our  assimilation  of  immigrants  is  seriously  retarded  because 
so  few  of  us  understand  them.     (3)  It  would  lead  us  to  be 


160  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

more  helpful  in  oiir  I'elations  with  backward  peoples,  be- 
cause it  would  help  us  to  value  them  on  the  basis  of  their 
latent  possibilities  rather  than  on  a  basis  of  their  small 
present  achievement.  This  gain  would  be  of  special  value 
in  dealing  with  the  Negro  and  the  Indian.  (4)  It  would 
rid  us  of  the  false  conceit  which  prevents  us,  on  the  one 
hand,  from  criticizing  ourselves,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
from  profiting  by  the  achievements  of  other  nations.  For 
instance,  we  fail  to  see  ourselves  as  the  South  American 
countries  see  us,  and  we  have  been  slow  to  learn  the  lessons 
of  cooperative  enterprises  that  we  could  learn  from  Den- 
mark. (5)  Other  nations,  recognizing  our  breadth  of  spirit 
and  willingness  to  adopt  their  achievements,  would  in 
turn  be  all  the  more  ready  to  adopt  the  national  ideas  for 
which  we  stand.''  (C.  D.  Kingsley,  The  Study  of  Nations: 
Its  Possibilities  as  a  Social  Study,  School  and  Society,  Jan. 
8,  1916,  pp.  38-41.*) 

Education  has  been  made  to  serve  the  cause  of  national 
competition ;  it  can  be  made  to  serve  the  cause  of  national 
cooperation.  It  is  especially  necessary  to  the  well-being  of 
American  social  life  that  American  children  should  be 
brought  up  with  this  ideal,  since  America  is  by  its  very 
make-up  a  compound  of  a  great  variety  of  peoples.  Unless 
this  attitude  is  developed  by  schools,  national  and  social 
antagonisms  will  continue  to  flourish  within  our  own  bor- 
ders, and  it  will  be  impossible  to  work  out  any  adequate 
means  for  people  of  various  racial  stock  to  work  har- 
moniously together.  Moreover,  we  must  have  a  more 
rational  estimate  of  the  national  integrity  and  the  legiti- 
mate aspirations  of  the  various  nations,  if  we  are  to  be  in 
any  way  prepared  to  cope  with  the  closer  and  closer  inter- 
national relations  that  will  develop  in  the  future.  We  must 
learn  to  see  beneath  the  varied  expressions  of  nationality  an 
essential  human  likeness;  we  must  gain  a  consciousness  of 
the  common  aims  and  interests  of  mankind.  It  is  only  by 
establishing  common  bonds  of  sympathy  between  nations 
that  we  can  look  forward  with  any  assurance  of  security  to 

•By  permission  The  Science  Press. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  161 

a  time  when  ''peace  and  good  will  toward  men'*  will  flourish 
upon  the  earth. 

READiisra 

KiNGSLEY,  C.  D. — The  Study  of  Nations:  School  and  So- 
ciety, January  8,  1916. 

Tuelij,  H.  E. — TJie  Study  of  Nations,  History  Teachers 
Magazine,  October,  1917. 

TuELL,  H.  E. — The  Study  of  Nations,  an  Experiment  in 
Social  Education,  Houghton. 

Social  Philosophy 

The  term  philosophy,  associated  as  it  is  in  our 
minds  with  a  particularly  advanced  and  remote  type 
of  human  being,  may  seem  like  a  large  term  to  use  in 
connection  with  the  affairs  of  little  children;  but  it  is  one 
of  the  functions  of  the  dynamic  point  of  view  to  restore 
philosophy  to  experience.  According  to  the  new  point  of 
view  ''philosophy  is  a  method,  not  a  remote  standard  of 
reference."  Social  life  presents  numerous  conflicts  and 
apparent  inconsistencies,  and  our  experiences  stand  out  as 
so  many  isolated  and  detached  fragments  unless  we  connect 
them  through  processes  of  reflection  into  a  philosophic  con- 
cept. Every  action  is  presumably  based  upon  a  philosophic 
assumption  of  some  kind,  however  vaguely  it  may  be 
defined :  it  involves  a  summing  up  of  past  experience  and 
evaluating  it  for  use  in  a  present  situation ;  it  includes  some 
thought  of  future  consequences.  There  is  an  innate  ten- 
dency of  the  human  mind  to  make  such  evaluations  and 
syntheses  of  experience,  from  the  unconscious  grcpings  of 
the  little  child  to  the  purposeful  consideration  and  reflec- 
tion of  the  mature  person. 

The  ability  to  penetrate  beneath  every-day  life,  to  see 
relationships,  to  harmonize  apparent  conflicts,  to  view  the 
events  of  experience  as  part  of  a  great  related  scheme 
should  be  consciously  developed  by  education.  It  should 
aid  pupils  in  organizing  information  into  some  signiflcant 
whole  that  should  act  as  a  working  theory  of  life.     This 


162  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

synthesis  is  often  left  to  chance,  to  the  planless  effort  of  the 
maturing  pupil  to  form  into  some  coherent  whole  the  phe- 
nomena which  his  daily  life  presents.  When  this  is  omitted, 
one  of  the  most  serious  responsibilities  of  education  is 
neglected.  **If  we  are  willing  to  conceive  education  as  the 
process  of  forming  fundamental  dispositions,  intellectual 
and  emotional,  toward  nature  and  fellow-men,  philosophy 
may  even  be  defined  as  the  general  theory  of  education. 
Unless  a  philosophy  is  to  remain  symbolic — or  verbal — or  a 
sentimental  indulgence  for  a  few,  or  else  mere  arbitrary 
dogma,  its  auditing  of  past  experience  and  its  program  of 
values  must  take  effect  in  conduct.  ...  On  the  other  side, 
the  business  of  schooling  tends  to  become  a  routine  empir- 
ical affair  unless  its  aims  and  methods  are  animated  by  such 
a  broad  and  sympathetic  survey  of  its  place  in  contem- 
porary life  as  it  is  the  business  of  philosophy  to  provide.'* 
(John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  E'ducation,  pp.  383-384.) 

The  study  of  existing  social  life,  beginning  with  the 
home  community  and  radiating  through  the  world,  supple- 
mented by  a  knowledge  of  how  it  has  been  built  up  through 
the  workings  of .  great  evolutionary  forces,  furnishes  a 
wealth  of  facts  from  which  should  emerge  a  consciousness 
of  the  social  factors  that  make  or  mar  social  life,  and  of 
the  great  social  problems  as  yet  unsolved.  The  aim  of  this 
synthesis  is  to  give  children  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
needs  and  possibilities  of  society  as  a  basis  for  social  en- 
deavor. 

It  is  the  function  of  education,  then,  to  restore  philosophy 
to  life.  The  kind  of  philosophy  here  meant  is  itself  dy- 
namic, evolving  with  experience,  growing  with  maturity, 
and  challenged  and  revised  always  by  the  new  facts  con- 
stantly contributed  by  a  developing  experience.  It  is, 
moreover,  not  an  individualistic  nor  abstract  affair,  but  a 
matter  of  the  reflective  adjustment  of  the  individual  to  his 
social  environment.  A  person's  philosophy  might  be  looked 
upon  as  the  threads  that  weave  the  individual  into  the 
fabric  of  the  social  pattern.  In  school  life  this  philosophic 
development  can  perhaps  best  be  secured  through  group 
discussions.     By  such  a  method  there  will  gradually  be 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  163 

built  up  in  the  group  a  common  body  of  socially  useful 
points  of  view,  constantly  modified  to  be  sure,  but  acting  as 
a  standard  of  reference  by  which  day  to  day  events  and 
conditions  may  be  judged.  An  enlightened  public  opinion 
can  thus  be  developed  within  the  group  as  a  motive  force 
to  control.  This  is  the  foundation  upon  which  later  more 
mature  judgments  may  most  safely  rest. 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — Article  on  Philosopliy  of  Education,  Cy- 
clopaedia of  Education.    Macmillan. 
Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education^  Macmillan. 
Chap.  XXIV.  Philosophy  of  Education. 

Moral  Education 

The  educational  aim  is  not  fulfilled  even  with  the 
development  in  the  minds  of  its  pupils  of  a  conscious 
social  philosphy.  Social  intelligence  must  eventuate  in 
fruitful  and  enlightened  social  action.  A  social  philosophy 
which  does  not  affect  conduct  is  sterile,  if  not  posi- 
tively immoral.  If  social  progress  is  to  be  effected,  the 
working  philosophy  of  life  must  go  over  into  some  kind  of 
action  that  will  bring  about  social  improvement.  Intel- 
lectual appreciation  must  therefore  involve  a  sensitiveness 
to  obligation,  and  the  development  of  a  disposition  and  an 
ability  to  act  with  other  people  for  the  common  good.  If 
we  conceive  of  intelligence  as  the  ability  to  look  ahead,  to 
forecast  the  result  of  this  or  that  kind  of  action,  we  must 
attach  responsibility  for  the  action  determined  upon.  In- 
creasing ability  to  direct  changes  brings  with  it  increasing 
responsibility  to  make  these  changes  in  accordance  with  the 
best  good  of  the  group. 

This  discussion  indicates  the  responsibility  of  the  school 
in  regard  to  moral  training.  Moral  training  has  always 
been  regarded  as  part  of  the  school's  business,  but  it  has 
been  looked  upon  from  an  entirely  formal  point  of  view. 
It  has  been  supposed  to  be  developed  sometimes  through  a 
series  of  lessons  in  ethics ;  sometimes  courses  in  story-telling 


164  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

and  '  *  memory  gems ' '  have  been  devised  for  this  purpose ;  his- 
tory is  sometimes  looked  to  to  supply  moral  training.  *  *  Our 
conceptions  of  moral  education  have  been  too  narrow,  too 
formal,  and  too  pathological.  We  have  associated  the  term 
ethical  with  certain  special  acts  which  are  labeled  virtues 
and  are  set  off  from  the  mass  of  other  acts,  and  are  still 
more  divorced  from  the  habitual  images  and  motives  of  the 
children  performing  them.  Moral  instruction  is  thus  asso- 
ciated with  teaching  about  these  particular  virtues,  or  with 
instilling  certain  sentiments  in  regard  to  them."  (John 
Dewey,  Moral  Principles  in  Education,  pp.  42-43.) 

Much  of  our  educational  malpractice  in  regard  to  moral 
training  is  due,  as  Professor  Dewey  points  out,  to  our  fail- 
ure to  distinguish  between  moral  ideas  and  ideas  about 
morality.  **  'Moral  ideas*  are  ideas  of  any  sort  whatsoever, 
which  take  effect  in  conduct  and  improve  it,  make  it  better 
than  it  otherwise  would  be.  Similarly,  one  may  say,  im- 
moral ideas  are  ideas  of  whatever  sort  (whether  arith- 
metical or  geographical  or  physiological)  which  show  them- 
selves in  making  behavior  worse  than  it  would  otherwise 
be;  and  non-moral  ideas,  one  may  say,  are  such  ideas  and 
pieces  of  information  as  leave  conduct  uninfluenced  for 
either  the  better  or  the  worse.  Now  'ideas  about  morality' 
may  be  morally  indifferent  or  immoral  or  moral.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  nature  of  ideas  ahout  morality,  of  informa- 
tion about  honesty  or  purity  or  kindness  which  automat- 
ically transmutes  such  ideas  into  good  character  or  good 
conduct.  .  .  . 

''The  business  of  the  educator — ^whether  parent  or 
teacher — ^is  to  see  to  it  that  the  greatest  possible  number  of 
ideas  acquired  by  children  and  youth  are  acquired  in  such  a 
vital  way  that  they  become  moving  ideas,  motive-forces  in 
the  guidance  of  conduct.  This  demand  and  this  opportunity 
make  the  moral  purpose  universal  and  dominant  in  all  in- 
struction— ^whatsoever  the  topic.  Were  it  not  for  this  pos- 
sibility, the  familiar  statement  that  the  ultimate  purpose 
of  all  education  is  character-forming  would  be  hypocritical 
pretense;  for  as  everyone  knows,  the  direct  and  immediate 
attention  of  teachers  and  pupils  must  be,  for  the  greater 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  165 

part  of  the  time,  upon  intellectual  matters."  (John  Dewey, 
Moral  Principles  in  Education,  pp.  1-2.*) 

The  moral  code  of  the  race  has  been  gradually  built  up 
out  of  its  experience,  as  an  effective  method  of  forwarding 
social  advancement.  Society  has  learned  to  approve  those 
actions  which  tend  to  the  advantage  of  the  community.  The 
moral  creed  of  a  particular  group  is  nothing  more  than  the 
conviction  implanted  in  the  minds  of  its  members  of  the 
propriety  of  the  manner  of  life  imposed  upon  them.  The 
standards  thus  evolved  represent  public  opinion  as  to  what 
is  right  and  just.  The  moral  is  the  social;  the  immoral  is 
the  anti-social.  Any  moral  idea  found  to  be  socially  valu- 
able is  retained,  those  found  to  be  no  longer  relevant  to  the 
social  situation  are  gradually  eliminated;  those  which  are 
universally  applicable  remain  as  a  permanent  part  of  the 
moral  code. 

The  foregoing  discussions  reveal  the  moral  value  of 
activity  in  education.  Since  our  moral  standards  are  not 
something  remote  from  experience  but  engendered  by  ex- 
perience itself,  moral  training  cannot  be  inculcated  by 
giving  children  a  set  of  maxims ;  it  must  be  gained  through 
the  give  and  take  of  social  life  itself.  To  provide  a  child 
with  a  set  of  maxims  is  to  bind  him  an  unthinking  slave  to 
the  past ;  to  give  him  the  power  to  realize  the  moral  implica- 
tions of  his  own  conduct  and  to  evolve  a  code  of  ethics  for 
evaluating  social  experience,  from  the  experience  in  which 
he  is  himself  engaging,  is  to  make  of  him  an  active  agent  of 
civilization.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  activities  in  school 
are  a  fundamental  necessity  in  guiding  conduct.  They  give 
opportunity  for  situations  that  bring  about  moral  training 
through  experience  itself.  A  school  regime  that  encourages 
the  passive  absorption  of  knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  that 
isolates  pupils  into  individual  units  and  emphasizes  compe- 
tition, that  makes  communication  among  pupils  a  sin,  is 
training  up  its  pupils  in  a  code  of  ethics  which  is  not  in 
accordance  with  what  is  advocated  in  life  outside  of  school, 
and  it  fails  to  take  advantage  of  the  two  great  opportunities 

*By  permission  Houghton  MiflSin  Co.  Copyright  1909  by  John 
Dewey. 


166  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

for  moral  training  of  life  in  a  social  group — ike  training  in 
cooperation  and  social  sympathy.  The  participation  of 
even  small  children,  however,  in  projects  of  common  inter- 
est to  them  calls  for  cooperation  with  all  the  moral  training 
that  it  involves.  The  experience  of  a  child  in  the  company 
of  his  fellows  is  the  best  moral  training  he  can  have.  Social 
disapproval  has  a  quick  and  direct  way  of  reforming  con- 
duct that  is  worth  a  dozen  homilies  or  moral  lessons.  We 
must  interpret  moral  character  more  scientifically,  more 
psychologically  and  adjust  our  pedagogical  action  accord- 
ingly. Moral  character  must  be  regarded  as  an  organic 
growth,  not  a  series  of  specific  achievements.  It  is  devel- 
oped through  the  formation  of  habits,  through  experiences. 
It  is  a  disposition  to  order  one's  conduct  with  reference  to 
the  welfare  of  others.  It  is  only  through  constantly  meeting 
situations  that  give  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  moral 
ideas  that  these  habits  and  this  attitude  can  be  developed. 
Discipline  from  this  point  of  view  means  not  external  com- 
pulsion, but  inner  control.  Moral  preference  is  exercised 
only  in  making  a  choice.  It  is  only  when  there  is  freedom 
to  act,  to  act  wrongly  or  rightly,  that  any  moral  issue  is 
involved.  Otherwise  the  intelligence  has  no  opportunity  to 
discern  right  from  wrong;  the  disposition  to  do  right  has 
no  chance  to  function  positively.  We  cannot  develop  in 
children  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  act  rightly  when  we 
deny  them  freedom  of  choice  as  to  their  actions.  Ethical 
conduct  is  socially  regulated  activity,  and  it  is  evolved  only 
by  social  experience  in  an  environment  freed  from  external 
control. 

The  question  of  civics  is  closely  related  to  this  matter. 
Civics  teaching  as  it  is  to-day  conducted  is  far  less  effective 
in  its  reflex  upon  social  action  than  it  might  be.  Isolated  as 
it  is,  just  a  ''subject"  crowded  into  a  curriculum  with  many 
others,  it  often  fails  to  impress  the  child  with  a  sense  of 
reality. 

**To  isolate  the  formal  relationship  of  citizenship  from 
the  whole  system  of  relations  with  which  it  is  actually  inter- 
woven; to  suppose  that  there  is  some  one  particular  study 
or  mode  of  treatment  which  can  make  the  child  a  good 


'  THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  167 

citizen;  to  suppose,  in  other  words,  that  a  good  citizen  is 
anything  more  than  a  thoroughly  efficient  and  serviceable 
member  of  society,  one  with  all  his  powers  of  mind  and 
body  under  control,  is  a  hampering  superstition  which  it  is 
hoped  may  soon  disappear  from  educational  discussion." 
(John  Dewey,  Moral  Principles  in  Education,  p.  9.) 

When  the  school  is  organized  as  a  social  community  in 
which  is  being  built  up  a  body  of  facts  as  a  basis  for  social 
action,  when  desirable  attitudes  and  dispositions  are  being 
developed  with  regard  to  social  matters,  when  this  social 
philosophy  has  continual  opportunity  to  function  in  situa- 
tions engendered  by  the  school  experience,  all  the  resources 
of  the  school  are  being  utilized  for  realizing  the  social  mis- 
sion of  education.  The  school  cannot  be  a  preparation  for 
social  life  unless  it  reproduces  within  itself  the  conditions 
of  social  life.  Education  progressing  in  a  school  organized 
as  a  social  laboratory  is  not  merely  a  preparation  for  citi- 
zenship, it  is  an  apprenticeship  in  citizenship.  A  concep- 
tion of  morality  built  up  as  the  outgrowth  of  such  experi- 
ence will  not  be  merely  an  abstraction  residing  in  books  or 
consisting  of  a  collection  of  precepts;  it  will  be  a  living 
thing  pulsing  through  the  very  heart  of  social  action. 

EEADING 

Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 

Chap.  XXVI.  Theories  of  Morals. 
Dewey,  John. — Moral  Principles  in  Education,  Houghton. 
KiLPATRiCK,  W.  H. — The  Project  Method,  Teachers  College 
Record,  September,  1918. 

The  Function  of  the  Various  Subjects  of  Study  in 
Expanding  Experience 

The  foregoing  discussions  of  the  development  of  a  course 
of  study  based  upon  and  controlled  at  every  point  by 
psychological  and  social  considerations,  have  involved  all 
the  subjects  of  study,  and  an  effort  has  been  made  to  show 
how  they  may  enter  functionally  into  the  educational  situa- 
tion.   It  is  necessary,  however,  for  the  teacher  to  have  a 


168  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

very  clear  conception  of  the  educational  significance  of  each 
subject,  and  of  their  relation  to  one  another,  in  order  that 
these  subjects  may  become  in  her  hands  a  free  and  flexible 
instrument  to  be  used  as  needed.  It  may  be  well,  therefore, 
to  include  here  a  brief  summary  of  the  specific  contributions 
made  by  the  various  subjects  in  expanding  experience. 
Placing  ourselves  at  the  standpoint  of  the  developing  child, 
we  may  roughly  classify  subject-matter  under  three  head- 
ings: (1)  Active  pursuits,  (2)  Subjects  which  give  social 
background  for  these  pursuits,   (3)  The  tool  subjects. 

(1)  Active  Pursuits. — If  education  is  to  proceed  in 
accordance  with  the  demands  of  child  biology  and  psychol- 
ogy it  follows  that  the  central  core  of  the  curriculum  must 
be  those  studies  which  may  be  looked  upon  not  so  much  as 
studies  as  active  pursuits,  or  the  natural  modes  by  which 
learning  takes  place.  The  child  is  essentially  active,  and 
the  fundamental  task  of  instruction  is  to  lay  hold  of  the 
natural  motor  tendencies  of  childhood,  and  direct  them  in 
such  a  way  that  they  acquire  more  and  more  of  educational 
value.  Beginning  with  those  natural  impulses  of  the  child 
to  construct,  to  investigate  and  experiment,  to  express  him- 
self in  various  art  forms,  to  communicate  with  his  fellows, 
noted  under  play  activities,  it  is  possible  to  have  him  repro- 
duce in  play  or  work  form,  those  pursuits  by  means  of  which 
the  work  of  the  world  is  carried  on. 

BEADING 

Dewey,  John. — The  Place  of  Manual  Training  in  the  Ele- 
mentary Course  of  Study.  Manual  Training  Magazine, 
July,  1901. 

"Work  in  the  constructive  arts  brings  with  it  a  considera- 
tion of  the  function  of  science  in  the  curriculum.  If  prog- 
ress in  constructive  activities  is  not  to  remain  the  mere 
acquisition  of  modes  of  skill,  these  activities  must  be  con- 
stantly illuminated  by  an  insight  into  the  scientific  prin- 
ciples upon  which  they  are  built.  The  constant  opportunity 
afforded   by    constructive    activities   for    exercise    in    the 


THE  EDUCATH^  PROCESS  169 

methods  of  scientific  discovery  and  research,  raises  these 
occupations  above  the  plane  of  training  and  makes  them 
truly  educative.  From  the  point  of  view  of  method,  science, 
leading  as  it  does  from  mere  manual  dexterity  to  intel- 
lectual inquiries  into  the  nature  of  activities  engaged  in, 
might  be  looked  upon  as  the  connecting  link  between  active 
pursuits  and  the  theoretical  subjects  noted  in  the  second 
group.  From  the  point  of  view  of  content,  science,  reveal- 
ing as  it  does  the  scientific  principles  upon  which  all  the 
inventions  and  achievements  of  the  modern  social  world 
depend,  gives  important  clues  to  the  understanding  of  the 
complex  social  life  in  which  the  child  finds  himself, 

(2)  Subjects  Giving  Social  Background  for  Active  Pur- 
suits. — Since  our  educational  aim  is  to  develop  the  child's 
understanding  of  the  intricacies  of  the  social  life  of  which 
he  must  gradually  become  a  part,  subjects  of  instruction 
will  take  the  nature  of  developing  a  sense  of  the  social  sig- 
nificance of  the  occupations  upon  which  the  child  is  actively 
engaged.  Its  mode  of  development  will  necessarily  depend 
upon  the  development  of  activities  within  the  school. 

The  connection  between  the  child's  own  activities  and 
these  subjects  may  possibly  be  made  by  means  of  excursions 
into  the  neighborhood  to  see  various  activities  as  they  are 
carried  on  to-day.  From  these  trips  the  child  should  gain 
the  concept  of  man's  achievements  as  responses  to  his 
environment  in  his  efforts  to  satisfy  his  neeas.  From  this 
first  hand  study  of  the  physical  features  of  the  home 
neighborhood  in  connection  with  the  activities  carried  on 
there,  he  should  gradually  come  to  have  an  understand- 
ing of  the  part  which  the  various  forms  of  the  configura- 
tion of  the  earth  play  in  relation  to  activity.  He  should 
see  lakes  and  rivers,  mountains  and  plains  as  resources 
or  obstacles  to  human  progress.  In  this  way  there  will 
be  gradually  built  up  a  body  of  facts  and  principles  about 
the  physical  environment  in  which  we  live  and  in  con- 
nection with  which  many  phases  of  social  life  have  their 
explanation.  *'The  overcoming  of  natural  obstacles  by 
man,  the  planting  of  the  wilderness,  the  subjugation  of 
natural  conditions  to  his  daily  needs,  the  advantage  taken 


170  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

by  man  of  every  possible  means  to  effect  his  social  develop- 
ment— these  are  the  themes  that  must  be  dwelt  upon. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  to  compass  every  part  of  the  known 
earth  in  order  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  the  study. 
The  study  of  Hypes*  in  each  great  social  and  geographical 
unit,  thoroughly  pursued  and  rightly  appreciated  is  worth 
infinitely  more  than  the  effort  to  gain  widespread  ac- 
quaintance with  facts  that  must  necessarily  fade  in  large 
part  from  the  mind.  .  .  . 

*'The  underlying  principles  of  the  geographic-social  en- 
vironment, wherever  viewed,  present  three  phases  of  con- 
ditions of  activity — production,  transportation,  and  con- 
sumption. Under  the  first  of  these — production — ^will  fall 
the  consideration  of  the  agricultural  and  mineral  resources 
of  a  region  as  dependent  upon  topography,  climate,  and 
geological  formation  of  land.  The  second — transporta- 
tion— must  have  as  its  subordinate  topics  the  topograph- 
ical features,  such  as  navigable  rivers  and  lake  chains, 
river  valleys,  the  cutting  of  canals,  and  the  building  of 
railroads  along  the  line  of  least  resistance,  by  taking 
advantage  of  the  'lay  of  the  land,*  as  in  river  gorges 
and  the  passes  through  mountains,  or,  in  the  case  of 
canals,  low  water-sheds  between  adjacent  basins  either  of 
lakes  or  rivers.  With  the  development  of  steam  as  a  means 
of  transportation,  feats  in  engineering  skill  have  accom- 
plished marvellous  results — tunnelling  a  mountain  range 
is  equivalent  to  removing  the  entire  barrier,  and  *  lands 
intersected  by  a  narrow  firth*  are  tied  shore  to  shore  by 
spanned  arches  or  cantilever  bridges.  The  third  condi- 
tion— consumption — ^involves  a  consideration  of  the  cities 
as  great  centers  of  population  dependent  upon  two  factors 
of  social  activity — manufacture  and  disbursement .  .  .  . 

"What  results  are  we  to  expect  from  this  outlook  of 
geography  as  a  social  factor  in  education?  .  .  .  The 
child's  mind  develops  through  healthy  interest  in  the 
primary  facts  into  an  attitude  of  thought  that  looks  for 
the  causes  and  effects  of  things.  He  grows  to  see  that 
the  central  motive  of  the  study  is  the  progress  of  humanity 
viewed  against  a  background  of  geographical  conditions. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  171 

He  is  led  to  understand  that  it  is  the  cooperative  labor 
of  men  that  accomplishes  results.  The  East  must  co- 
operate with  the  West,  the  North  with  the  South — each 
with  the  other — ^in  order  to  build  up  a  strong  and  vital 
social  community.  From  his  own  country  he  will  look 
abroad  with  the  same  thought  in  mind  to  other  countries 
and  other  peoples.  He  will  tend  more  and  more  to  lose 
that  local  prejudice  which  is  engendered  by  narrow  con- 
ditions of  life  and  fostered  by  narrow  methods  of  teach- 
ing. He  will  become  more  of  an  American  than  a 
Pennsylvanian,  and  with  a  wider  experience  in  the  history, 
literature  and  language  of  the  race  from  which  he  has 
sprung,  more  Anglo-Saxon,  though  not  a  jot  less  Ameri- 
can. In  other  words,  he  becomes  more  socially  intelligent, 
and  social  intelligence  is  the  lever  that  lifts  mountains. 
With  the  social  intelligence  must  come  the  social  disposi- 
tion— ^the  deeper  appreciation  of  himself  as  a  member  of 
society.  It  may  not  dawn  upon  him  at  once;  he  may 
never  realize  in  a  concrete  way  what  the  study  has  done 
for  him;  but  if  there  be  any  good  in  him,  he  will  surely 
become  the  stronger  man,  the  better  neighbor,  the  more 
useful  member  of  the  social  life  in  which  he  lives  and 
moves.  His  sympathies  will  widen  toward  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men.  He  will  realize  better  the  significance 
of  that  struggle  in  which  he  and  all  his  fellows  are  in- 
volved." (S.  Trotter,  The  Social  Function  of  GeograpJiy, 
National  Herbart  Society,  Fourth  Year  Book,  pp.  66-79.*) 
Just  as  the  meaning  of  social  life  is  clarified  for  the 
child  when  viewed  against  the  background  of  the  natural 
conditions  in  which  it  takes  place,  so  is  it  further  explained 
by  studying  it  in  the  process  of  formation.  The  present 
is  the  product  of  the  past;  there  is  no  other  explanation 
of  it  except  the  past  which  produced  it.  We  are  what 
we  are  for  no  other  reason  than  as  a  result  of  a  process 
of  growth ;  therefore  we  can  understand  what  we  are  only 
by  understanding  how  we  came  to  be  what  we  are.  The 
study  of  history  supplies  us  with  the  explanations  of  how 

*By  permission  The  Public  School  Publishing  Co.,  Bloomington, 
Illinois.    Copyright  1898  by  Chas.  A.  McMurry. 


172  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

things  in  our  social  life  came  to  be  as  they  are.  According 
to  this  view,  history  instead  of  being  a  mere  enumeration 
of  what  has  happened  in  the  past,  comes  to  be  the  key 
to  the  understanding  of  the  present.  Knowledge  of  the 
past  simply  as  past  is  of  little  value  except  as  a  literary 
accomplishment.  *  *  If  history  be  regarded  as  just  the  record 
of  the  past,  it  is  hard  to  see  any  ground  for  claiming  that 
it  should  play  any  large  role  in  the  curriculum  of  elemen- 
tary education.  The  past  is  the  past,  and  the  dead  may  be 
safely  left  to  bury  its  dead.  There  are  too  many  urgent  de- 
mands in  the  present,  too  many  calls  over  the  threshold  of 
the  future,  to  permit  the  child  to  become  deeply  immersed  in 
what  is  forever  gone  by.  Not  so  when  history  is  considered 
as  an  account  of  the  forces  and  forms  of  social  life.  .  .  . 
Whatever  history  may  be  for  the  scientific  historian,  for 
the  educator  it  must  be  an  indirect  sociology — a  study  of 
society  which  lays  bare  its  process  of  becoming  and  its 
modes  of  organization.  Existing  society  is  both  too  com- 
plex and  too  close  to  the  child  to  be  studied.  He  finds 
no  clues  into  its  labyrinth  of  detail  and  can  mount  no 
eminence  whence  to  get  a  perspective  of  arrangement." 
(John  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society ^  p.  155.) 

This  point  of  view  necessarily  affects  very  decidedly  the 
method  of  studying  history.  If  history  is  regarded  as 
chronology,  we  naturally  begin  at  the  beginning  and  trace 
events  in  their  time  sequence;  if,  however,  history  is  the 
key  to  some  present  situation,  the  starting  point  must  be 
an  examination  of  the  present  situation  and  the  focussing 
of  such  historical  facts  upon  it  as  will  serve  to  explain  it. 
* ' ...  a  study  of  the  social  factors  and  forces  as  they  exist  in 
the  world  about  us  must  precede  any  attempt  at  the  ex- 
planation of  historical  development.  ...  It  is  in  this  study 
of  first-hand  materials,  in  the  observation  of  social  activities 
about  us,  that  we  must  get  our  clue  to  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect  in  social  and  political  affairs ;  and  until  we  have 
this  clue,  historical  facts  are  merely  so  many  isolated  and 
unconnected  events."  (T.  N.  Carver,  Sociology  and  Social 
Progress,  p.  5.) 

Not  only  is  the  method  of  organizing  historical  data  in- 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  173 

fluenced  by  this  point  of  view;  the  content  selected  is  also 
profoundly  influenced  by  it.  Formerly  history  was  almost 
entirely  political  in  character.  ''Our  so-called  standard 
works  on  history  deal  at  length  with  kings  and  popes,  with 
courtiers  and  statesmen,  with  wars  waged  for  territory  or 
thrones,  with  laws  passed  by  princes  and  parliaments. 
.  .  .  Until  recently  the  main  thread  selected  was  political. 
Almost  everything  was  classified  under  kings'  reigns;  and 
the  policy  of  their  governments  and  the  wars  in  which 
they  became  involved  were  the  favorite  subjects  of  discus- 
sion. .  .  .  Our  most  recent  manuals  venture  to  leave  out 
some  of  the  traditional  facts  least  appropriate  for  an 
elementary  review  of  the  past  and  endeavor  to  bring  their 
narrative  into  relation,  here  and  there,  with  modern  needs 
and  demands.''  (J.  H.  Robinson,  The  New  History,  pp. 
135-137.) 

''The  real  question  is,  has  not  our  bias  for  political  his- 
tory led  us  to  include  many  trifling  details  of  dynasties 
and  military  history  which  merely  confound  the  reader  and 
take  up  precious  space  that  should  be  devoted  to  certain 
great  issues  hitherto  neglected?  The  winning  or  losing 
of  a  bit  of  territory  by  a  Louis  or  a  Frederick,  the  laborious 
piecing  together  of  a  puny  duchy  destined  to  speedy  dis- 
integration upon  the  downfall  of  a  Caesar  Borgia,  struggles 
between  rival  dynasties,  the  ambitions  of  young  kings* 
uncles,  the  turning  of  an  enemy's  flank  a  thousand  years 
ago, — ^have  not  such  things  been  given  an  unmerited 
prominence?  Man  is  more  than  a  warrior,  a  subject,  or 
a  princely  ruler;  the  State  is  by  no  means  his  whole 
interest.  .  .  .  He  has,  through  the  ages,  made  voyages,  ex- 
tended commerce,  founded  cities,  established  great  universi- 
ties, written  books,  built  glorious  cathedrals,  painted 
pictures,  and  sought  out  many  inventions.  The  propriety 
of  including  these  human  interests  in  our  historical  manuals 
is  being  more  and  more  widely  recognized,  but  political 
history  still  retains  its  supreme  position  and  past  political 
events  are  still  looked  upon  by  the  public  as  history  par 
excellence."    (J.  H.  Robinson,  Tlfie  New  History,  pp.  8-9.*) 

*By  permission  The  Macmillan  Co.    Copyright  1912. 


174  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

If  the  aim  of  instruction  is  to  make  clear  the  social  life 
in  which  children  are  to  play  a  part  and  if  history  is  to 
be  one  of  our  chief  means  of  explaining  that  life,  the 
problem  resolves  itself  into  one  of  selecting  from  all  the 
mass  of  historical  material  available,  those  phases  which 
will  be  of  greatest  service  to  children  in  working  out  the 
problems  of  their  social  lives.  Political  history  has  its 
basis  in  social  and  economic  conditions  of  which  it  is  merely 
the  outward  manifestation.  Emphasis  should  therefore 
shift  from  the  study  of  political  history  to  the  study  of 
its  economic  and  social  basis,  the  historic  development  of 
the  means  by  which  men  have  subjugated  nature  and 
learned  to  cooperate  with  one  another  for  the  advancement 
of  the  common  good.  The  larger  conception  of  history 
now  regards  it  as  the  record  of  all  forms  of  human  effort 
and  achievement.  It  is  a  record  of  man's  thought  in  the 
face  of  the  infinite  complexities  of  life  and  nature ;  it  shows 
the  insight  of  man  at  various  stages  in  his  social  develop- 
ment, his  modes  of  thought,  his  range  of  knowledge  and 
consequently  his  success  or  failure  in  solving  his  problems. 
History  and  geography  are  thus  seen  to  be  mutually 
complementary  subjects.  *' While  geography  emphasizes 
the  physical  side  and  history  the  social,  these  are  only 
emphases  in  a  common  topic,  namely,  the  associated  life 
of  men.  For  this  associated  life,  with  its  experiments,  its 
ways  and  means,  its  achievements  and  failures,  does  not 
go  on  in  the  sky  nor  yet  in  a  vacuum.  It  takes  place  on 
the  earth.  This  setting  of  nature  does  not  bear  to  social 
activities  the  relation  that  the  scenery  of  a  theatrical  per- 
formance bears  to  a  dramatic  representation ;  it  enters  into 
the  very  make-up  of  the  social  happenings  that  form  his- 
tory. Nature  is  the  medium  of  social  occurrences.  It 
furnishes  original  stimuli;  it  supplies  obstacles  and  re- 
sources. Civilization  is  the  progressive  mastery  of  its  varied 
energies."  (John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p. 
247.)  Since  the  understanding  of  history  depends  upon 
an  appreciation  of  the  natural  environment  as  affording 
resources  and  presenting  obstacles  to  human  advancement, 
the  child  who  has  observed  these  natural  aids  and  checks 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  175 

upon  human  activity  is  prepared  to  understand  their  sig- 
nificance when  noted  in  connection  with  events  remote  in 
time  and  space. 

READING 

Alford,  C.  W. — TJie  Science  of  History,  Popular  Science 

Monthly,  May,  1914. 
Bagley,  W.  C. — The  Functions  of  Geography  in  the  Ele- 
mentary School,  Journal  of  Geography,  May,  1904. 
Brunhes. — Human  Geography,  Rand. 
Dewey,   John. — The  School  and  Society,  University  of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  VIII.  The  Aim  of  History  in  Elementarj 
Education. 
Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 

Chap.  XVI.  The  Significance  of  Geography  and 
History. 
Dodge  and  Kirchwey. — The  Teaching  of  Geography,  Rand 

McNally. 
Robinson,  J.  H. — The  New  History^  Macmillan. 
Chap.      I.  The  New  History. 
Chap.  III.  The  New  Allies  of  History. 
Chap.    V.  History  for  the  Common  Man. 
Eunyan,    L.    L. — Elementary    History    Teaching    in    the 
Laboratory  School,  Elementary  School  Teacher,  Sep- 
tember, 1903. 
Sutherland,  W.  J. — The  Teaching  of  Geography,  Scott 

Foresman. 
Traner,  F.  W. — Socializing  the  Study  of  History,  School 

Review,  December,  1917. 
Trotter,  S. — The  Social  Function  of  Geography,  National 
Herbart  Society,  Fourth  Year  Book. 

(3)  The  Tool  Subjects. — These  subjects  represent  the 
symbols  of  the  intellectual  life.  Reading  and  writing  are 
the  tools  of  communication;  they  make  possible  shared 
experiences  on  a  much  greater  scale  than  mere  oral 
language  could  do.    Reading  is  a  tool  for  the  acquisition 


176  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

of  the  experiences  of  others,  writing  is  a  tool  for  the 
expression  of  experiences.  The  mathematical  processes 
provide  us  with  measuring  rods  of  various  sorts.  They 
are  of  fundamental  importance  to  experience  by  making 
it  possible  to  reduce  things  to  a  common  denominator 
of  number  and  thus  evaluate  them.  Measurement  and 
comparison  are  therefore  of  fundamental  value  in  under- 
standing relationships.  It  is  through  number  concepts 
that  we  are  able  to  understand  the  economic  structure  of 
society. 

In  the  traditional  education  where  knowledge  is  an 
'end  in  itself,  instruction  in  the  means  by  which  knowledge 
is  acquired,  naturally  assumes  a  place  of  first  importance 
in  any  scheme  of  curriculum-making.  If,  however,  the 
aim  of  instruction  is  to  develop  in  the  immature  members 
of  society,  through  experience,  an  understanding  of  the 
social  life  in  which  they  are  to  participate,  emphasis  in 
the  earlier  stages  naturally  falls  upon  those  studies  which 
directly  aid  in  this  undertaking.  The  symbols,  affording 
as  they  do  only  indirect  and  remote  modes  of  experiencing, 
assume  a  less  important  position,  becoming,  not  an  end 
in  themselves,  but  merely  a  means  of  expanding  experience. 
Instruction  in  the  symbols  will  take  place  only  when 
it  becomes  necessary  to  expand  the  child's  understanding 
beyond  what  is  possible  from  direct  personal  experience. 
Although  this  point  of  view  may  seem  to  relegate  the 
three  R's  to  a  place  of  secondary  importance,  in  reality 
they  gain  greatly  in  significance,  since  reading,  writing, 
and  number  work  instead  of  being  so  many  isolated 
studies  have  a  highly  functional  value,  organically  related 
to  experience. 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — The  School  and  Society,  University  of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  IV.  The  Psychology  of  Elementary  Educa- 
tion. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  177 

The  Function  of  the  Teacher 

The  teacher  exists  only  for  the  sake  of  the  learner.  The 
foregoing  discussions  therefore  define  the  task  of  the  teacher. 
In  the  conventional  school-room  the  teacher  represents  vested 
authority  there  to  compel  learning.  Her  method  is  considered 
as  something  distinct  in  itself.  With  a  curriculum  worked 
out  in  all  its  details,  all  that  the  teacher  can  do  is  to  follow 
as  conscientiously  as  may  be  this  prescription  laid  upon 
her  from  above.  It  is  small  wonder  that  under  such 
circumstances  her  method  degenerates  into  mere  routine 
skill,  enlivened  by  such  devices  as  she  has  found  prac- 
tically useful  in  inducing  learning.  *^The  material,  the 
stuff  to  be  learned,  is,  from  this  point  of  view,  inevitably 
something  external,  and  therefore  indifferent.  There  can 
be  no  native  and  intrinsic  tendency  of  the  mind  toward 
it,  nor  can  it  have  any  essential  quality  which  stimulates 
and  calls  out  the  mental  powers.  No  wonder  the  up- 
holders of  this  distinction  are  inclined  to  question  the 
value  of  interest  in  instruction,  and  to  throw  all  the 
emphasis  upon  the  dead  lift  of  effort.  The  externality 
of  the  material  makes  it  more  or  less  repulsive  to  the  mind. 
The  pupil,  if  left  to  himself,  would,  upon  this  assumption, 
necessarily  engage  himself  upon  something  else.  It  re- 
quires a  sheer  effort  of  will  power  to  carry  the  mind  over 
from  its  own  intrinsic  workings  and  interests  to  this  out- 
side stuff. 

*^0n  the  other  side,  the  mental  operation  being  assumed 
to  go  on  without  any  intrinsic  connection  with  the  ma-, 
terial,  the  question  of  method  is  degraded  to'  a  very  low 
plane.  Of  necessity  it  is  concerned  simply  with  the  various 
devices  which  have  been  found  empirically  useful,  or 
which  the  ingenuity  of  the  individual  teacher  may  invent. 
There  is  nothing  fundamental  or  philosophical  which  may 
be  used  as  a  standard  in  deciding  points  in  method.  It 
is  simply  a  question  of  discovering  the  temporary  ex- 
pedients and  tricks  which  will  reduce  the  natural  friction 
between  the  mind  and  the  external  material.  No  wonder, 
once  more,  that  those  who  hold  even  unconsciously  to 


178  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

this  dualism  .  .  .  seek  an  ally  in  the  doctrine  of  interest 
interpreted  to  mean  the  amusing,  and  hold  that  the  actual 
work  of  instruction  is  how  to  make  studies  which  have 
no  intrinsic  interest  interesting — how,  that  is,  to  clothe 
them  with  factitious  attraction,  so  that  the  mind  may 
swallow  the  repulsive  dose  unaware."  (John  Dewey,  Tlie 
Psychological  Aspect  of  the  School  Curriculum,  Educa- 
tional Review,  April,  1897,  pp.  357-358.*) 

Reacting  against  this  point  of  view  many  of  the  new 
schools  revert  to  the  opposite  extreme.  *' There  are  those 
who  see  no  alternative  between  forcing  the  child  from  with- 
out, or  leaving  him  entirely  alone.  Seeing  no  alternative, 
some  choose  one  mode,  some  another.  Both  fall  into  the 
fundamental  error.  .  .  .  Both  fail  to  see  that  development 
is  a  definite  process,  having  its  own  law  which  can  be  ful- 
filled only  when  adequate  or  normal  conditions  are  provided. 
...  If,  once  more,  the  'old  education'  tended  to  ignore  the 
dynamic  quality,  the  developing  force  inherent  in  the 
child's  present  experience,  and  therefore  to  assume  that 
direction  and  control  are  just  matters  of  arbitrarily  putting 
the  child  in  a  given  path,  and  compelling  him  to  walk 
there,  the  *new  education'  is  in  danger  of  taking  the  idea 
of  development  in  altogether  too  formal  and  empty  a  way. 
The  child  is  expected  to  'develop'  this  or  that  fact  or  truth 
out  of  his  own  mind.  He  is  told  to  think  things  out, 
or  work  things  out  for  himself,  without  being  supplied 
any  of  the  environing  conditions  which  are  requisite 
to  start  and  guide  thought.  Nothing  can  be  developed 
from  nothing;  nothing  but  the  crude  can  be  developed  out 
of  the  crude — and  this  is  what  surely  happens  when  we 
throw  the  child  back  on  his  achieved  self  as  a  finality,  and 
invite  him  to  spin  new  truths  of  nature  or  of  conduct  out 
of  that.  .  .  .  Development  does  not  mean  just  getting 
something  out  of  the  mind.  It  is  a  development  of 
experience  and  into  experience  that  is  really  wanted.  And 
this  is  impossible  save  as  just  that  educative  medium  is 
provided  which  will  enable  the  powers  and  interests  that 

*By  permission  George  H.  Doran  Company. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  '179 

have  been  selected  as  valuable  to  function.  Tbey  must 
operate,  and  how  they  operate  will  depend  almost  entirely 
upon  the  stimuli  which  surround  them,  and  the  material 
upon  which  they  exercise  themselves.''  (John  Dewey,  The 
Child  and  the  Curriculum^  p.  23.*) 

If  the  aim  of  the  teacher  is  to  convert  children  into 
social  beings,  it  is  obvious  that  she  must  know  both  child- 
nature  and  the  nature  of  the  world  in  which  the  children 
live.  She  must  be  a  sensitive  observer  of  evidences  of 
growth — but  she  must  also  have  steadily  in  mind  the 
goal  to  be  reached.  The  child's  present  manifestations 
are  to  be  assessed  by  their  potentialities;  they  must  be 
interpreted  in  terms  of  their  social  significance.  Teachers 
should,  therefore,  have  a  knowledge  of  the  fundamental 
principles  and  problems  of  social  life,  they  should  know 
not  only  the  industrial,  social  and  political  organization 
of  the  world,  but  the  laws  which  govern  the  development 
of  the  world  and  in  accordance  with  which  progress  takes 
place.  It  is  only  when  resting  upon  a  solid  foundation 
of  psychology  and  sociology  that  the  subjects  of  study, 
and  the  educative  materials  and  equipment  become  so 
many  working  resources,  so  many  flexible  instruments 
by  means  of  which  the  teacher  realizes  her  aims.  The 
limitless  amount  of  material  available  makes  selection 
necessary.  Guided  always  by  the  evidences  of  the  child's 
growing  capacity,  she  arranges  an  environment  supplying 
conditions  that  make  for  the  movement  of  experience  into 
channels  of  greater  social  value.  She  helps  children  to 
take  apart  the  vague  unity  of  their  experience,  to  see 
further  and  deeper  into  the  relationships  implicit  in  it, 
at  the  same  time  she  aims  developing  such  techniques  and 
skills  in  the  children  that  they  will  become  more  and 
more  independent  of  her. 

Recently  much  attention  has  been  given  in  educational 
circles  to  the  consideration  of  projects  as  a  method  of 
organizing  the  curriculum.  As  a  means  of  transferring 
teachers'  attention  from  the  passive  to  the  active  aspect 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1902  by 
The  University  of  Chicago. 


180  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL. 

of  education,  and  as  indicating  a  practical  tooi  by  means' 
of  which  school  work  may  be  motivated,  the  project 
method  is  valuable.  There  is  danger,  however,  in  the 
use  of  any  particular  terminology  as  a  description  of 
method.  It  too  easily  provides  a  handle  by  which  method 
may  be  lifted  out  of  the  vital  relationships  which  give 
it  significance,  and  considered  artificially  as  something 
by  and  for  itself.  The  great  educational  lesson  to  he 
learned  from  modern  psycliology  is  that  there  is  no  special 
magic  residing  in  method  as  method  hy  means  of  which 
the  progress  of  an  out-reaching  experience  may  he 
ejfected.  If,  however,  the  term  project  is  employed  by 
teachers  as  a  convenient  way  of  designating  a  concrete 
unit  of  **  whole-hearted  purposeful  activity  in  a  social 
situation,"  it  may  fulfil  a  useful  purpose  in  educational 
nomenclature.  By  its  use  the  indefinite  continuity  of 
children's  activity  may  be  broken  into  parts,  the  relation 
of  the  one  part  to  the  next  can  the  more  easily  be  per- 
ceived, and  thus  the  process  of  experience  the  more 
readily  noted  and  progress  measured.  It  thus  gives  a 
ready  means  of  guiding  activity  into  more  and  more 
purposeful  channels.  Another  justification  of  the  project 
method  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  gives  opportunity  for 
developing  within  the  school  situations  that  engage  the 
pupils'  mental  powers  in  the  way  in  which  they  are  implied 
in  life  outside  of  school.  Every  project  to  be  educationally 
worth-while  should  include  thought-provoking  problems 
that  evolve  in  a  sequence,  each  one  growing  out  of  the 
preceding,  and  dependent  upon  it  for  its  successful  solu- 
tion. In  this  way  experience  may  be  led  out  naturally 
to  the  consideration  of  highly  abstract  problems.  From 
such  experience  mental  training  of  the  best  sort  results 
because  the  mind  is  required  to  keep  the  desired  end 
constantly  in  view,  and  to  regulate  intermediary  processes 
with  reference  to  it,  to  judge  the  qualHy  of  thinking 
by  the  results  it  brings,  and  to  discard  irrelevant  sug- 
gestions. Habits,  skills,  or  special  techniques  are  being 
developed  in  the  way  they  need  to  operate.  Altogether 
the  project,  properly  managed,  gives  great  opportunity 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  181 

for  personal  reflection  and  experimentation,  which  is  the 
essence  of  the  scientific  method  of  thinking. 

It  is  only  when  projects  are  regarded  in  this  way  that 
they  are  educationally  valuable.  Considered  as  method 
the  teacher  has  no  method.  Her  method  is  simply  her 
intelligence  functioning  at  its  highest  capacity.  **  Educa- 
tional method  to  be  of  worth  should  be  scientific  method 
applied  to  the  art  of  teaching.  The  method  of  the  teacher 
is  simply  an  attitude  of  mind  like  that  of  the  scientist. 
There  are  two  elements  involved,  the  learning  mind,  and 
the  subject-matter  or  environment.  To  have  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  each,  to  appreciate  the  expectant  long- 
ing of  mind,  to  interpret  its  responses  to  stimuli,  to  form 
valid  conceptions  of  the  activity  and  assimilating  power' 
of  each  child  in  the  environment  made  by  the  subject, 
is  to  have  a  method  in  teaching  which  covers  the  entire 
range  ^of  that  great  art.  It  is  to  have  the  method  of 
science  applied  to  education.  This  means  that  the  teacher 
should  have  a  method  applicable  to  every  subject,  in  every 
division  of  the  school  beginning  with  the  kindergarten 
and  extending  through  the  graduate  school.  A  distinct 
method  for  every  subject  is  not  necessary  any  more  than 
a  special  scientific  method  for  each  branch  of  science 
would  be  necessary.  Whatever  be  the  subject  one  is 
teaching  the  aim  is  identical  with  that  of  all  other  sub- 
jects taught:  to  determine  how  mind  is  working  with  the 
material  in  its  environment,  what  nourishment  it  is  select- 
ing and  assimilating. ' '  (E.  F.  Young,  Scientific  Method 
in  Education,  p.  147.*) 

This  conception  of  method  elevates  it  to  the  high  place 
which  it  deserves.  It  demands  of  a  teacher  all  of  initia- 
tive, all  of  resource,  all  of  the  scientific  yet  sym- 
pathetic insight  into  the  lives  of  growing  children  which 
she  can  command.  Since  the  curriculum  is  not  a  fixed 
thing  but  a  developing  situation  dependent  upon  the 
factors  involved  in  it — the  particular  group  of  children, 
their  particular  environment,  and  the  social  subject-matter 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1903  by 
the  University  of  Chicago. 


182  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

that  will  adjust  the  two — upon  the  teacher  devolves  the 
entire  responsibility  for  the  success  of  the  work.  She 
may  receive  suggestion  and  help  from  other  people  and 
from  books,  but  it  is  through  the  medium  of  her  intelli- 
gence alone  that  any  of  this  can  become  operative.  It  is 
only  when  teachers  become  imbued  with  a  deep  sense  of 
the  social  significance  of  their  calling  that  teaching  can 
hope  to  fulfil  its  high  office:  *Hhe  most  perfect  union  of 
science  and  art  conceivable  in  human  experience.'' 

READING 

Dewey,  John. — Democracy  and  Education^  Macmillan. 
Chap.       X.  Interest  and  Discipline. 
Chap.  XIII.  The  Nature  of  Method. 
Dewey,  John. — How  We  Think,  Heath. 

Chap.  IV.  School  Conditions  and  the  Training  of 
Thought. 
GooDLANDER,    M.     R. — Education     TJirougJi    Experience, 

Bureau  of  Educational  Experiments,  Bui.  No.  4. 
KiLPATRiCK,  W.  H. — The  Project  Method,  Teachers  College 

Record,  September,  1918. 
Snedden,  D. — The  Project  as  a  Teaching  Unit,  School  and 

Society,  September  16,  1916. 
Stevenson,  J.  A. — The  Project  Method,  Macmillan. 
Young,  E.  F. — Scientific  Method  in  Education,  University 
of  Chicago  Decennial  Publications,  Vol.  Ill,  University 
of  Chicago  Press,  1903. 

Measuring  Progress. — The  carrying  out  of  this  plan  will 
necessarily  have  a  great  effect  upon  the  daily  program. 
It  will  no  longer  be  possible  to  have  set  tasks  and  lessons 
following  each  other  at  half-hour  intervals.  We  all  re- 
member the  story  of  the  superintendent  who  proudly 
claimed  that  he  could  tell  precisely  what  every  child  in 
the  city  was  doing  at  a  given  moment.  The  requirements 
of  child  growth  do  not  demand  such  assiduous  attention 
to  the  clock.  The  daily  program  should  be  a  flexible  plan 
which  allows  time  for  essential  activities,  for  discussion, 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  183 

and  for  study  and  research.  There  should  be  time  allowed 
for  plays,  games,  the  art  activities  and  so  on. 

Since  the  emphasis  is  upon  activities  and  the  free  and 
full  development  of  experience,  it  will  be  quite  necessary 
for  the  teacher  to  keep  a  diary  of  daily  events,  for 
reference.  This  should  be  an  effective  aid  for  seeing  the 
trend  of  activity  and  suggesting  the  next  step  in  its 
development.  Since  the  new  point  of  view  has  not  yet 
fully  taken  hold  of  school  practice,  we  are  as  yet  lacking 
in  the  technique  necessary  for  quick  and  effective  record- 
keeping. It  will  no  doubt  be  possible  at  some  later  time 
to  work  out  forms  for  record-keeping  which  will  allow 
for  all  individual  variations  which  this  plan  demands, 
but  which  will  render  less  arduous  the  work  of  keeping 
track  of  the  development  of  experience.  Transfer  sheets 
in  which  experiences  are  classified  in  relation  to  their 
bearing  upon  the  various  subjects  of  study  would  be 
valuable  for  recording  progress  in  the  curriculum. 

It  will  be  necessary,  also,  to  evolve  some  method  of 
testing  the  results  of  this  kind  of  education  and  some 
adequate  method  of  measuring  progress.  The  value  of 
examinations,  which  of  course  are  unsuited  to  a  plan  of 
education  not  based  upon  the  pure  knowledge  aim,  has 
been  very  seriously  questioned  even  in  conventional  school 
work.  It  has  been  found  by  experimental  data  that  since 
a  teacher's  judgment  is  necessarily  a  personal  thing  and 
even  variable  with  one  person  according  to  physical  state, 
examination  marks  are  not  an  index  of  progress.  Con- 
scientious teachers  who  have  marked  examination  papers 
at  two  different  times,  have  found  a  wide  variation  in 
the  marks  they  have  given  for  the  same  paper ;  while  the 
same  paper,  submitted  to  several  teachers,  has  shown  a 
correspondingly  wide  range  of  marks.  There  are  numer- 
ous other  defects  of  examinations,  such  as  the  loose  evalua- 
tion of  the  various  questions  involved,  the  failure  of  the 
marks  received  to  indicate  where  failures  or  difficulties 
lie,  and  so  on.  The  tendency  in  educational  work  now 
is  to  substitute  tests  of  a  more  scientific  character  for 
examinations.     These  tests  as  yet,  however,   are  more 


184  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

a  matter  of  promise  than  of  actual  achievement.  Some 
of  them  are  applicable  to  an  experimentally  developed 
course  of  study,  but  others  are  not,  since  they  assume 
a  type  of  experience  that  any  particular  group  of  children 
may  not  have  had.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  develop 
within  any  school  a  series  of  tests  and  scales  which  are 
based  in  method  upon  the  standardized  tests,  but  which 
are  adapted  to  the  particular  set  of  experiences  that  the 
children  in  the  school  have  had.  It  is  particularly  valu- 
able for  children  to  develop  their  own  scales,  as  has  been 
advocated  in  the  case  of  the  drill  subjects.  Graphs  used 
in  arithmetical  and  other  situations  are  of  course  im- 
portant scales;  if  a  record  is  kept  for  a  length  of  time 
of  the  words  needed  in  spelling  by  children  having  typical 
experiences,  a  spelling  scale  can  be  developed;  specimen 
papers  showing  the  best  handwriting  of  each  pupil  can 
be  filed,  and  they  become  a  norm  for  measuring  all  future 
results. 

It  is  probably  by  such  methods  as  these,  with  the  help 
of  the  intelligence  tests,  that  we  can  at  present  best  solve 
the  question  of  tests,  awaiting  the  results  of  our  own  ex- 
perimentation as  contributions  to  a  more  scientific  evalua- 
tion of  children's  progress.  Such  results,  if  carefully 
recorded,  might  presumably  reveal  something  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  results  obtainable  under  present  school 
conditions.  It  seems  likely  that  we  have  not  yet  tapped 
the  well-springs  of  childhood's  possibilities  at  their  deep- 
est level.  The  same  thing  holds  true  of  the  essential 
facts  of  knowledge  that  should  be  expected  as  the  outcome 
of  a  well-rounded  and  well-ordered  school  experience.  Al- 
though it  is  undoubtedly  important  to  have  a  body  of 
minimum  essentials,  these  too,  to  be  valuable,  must  be 
arrived  at  experimentally. 

READING 

Ayres,  L.  p. — Measuring  Educational  Processes  through 
Educational  Result s^  School  Review,  May,  1912. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  185 

Bagley,  W.  C. — The  Need  of  Standards  for  Measuring 
Progress  and  Results,  Addresses  and  Proceedings  of 
the  National  Education  Association,  1912. 

Courtis,  S.  A. — Bulletin  No.  I  Courtis  Standard  Tests,  De- 
troit, Michigan. 

Equipment  and  Arrangements. — If  the  principles  enun- 
ciated in  the  foregoing  discussions  are  to  be  practically 
carried  out  by  schools  it  follows  that  there  must  be  a 
radical  change  in  their  appearance  and  arrangements. 
The  conditions  in  the  conventional  school-room  are  such 
as  to  prevent  the  normal  functioning  of  child  charac- 
teristics. The  arrangement  of  the  ordinary  school-room 
is  hostile  to  the  existence  of  real  situations  arising  from 
experience.  Almost  everything  testifies  to  the  great 
premium  put  upon  listening,  reading,  and  the  reproduction 
of  what  is  told  or  read.  *^  .  .  if  we  put  before  the  mind's 
eye  the  ordinary  school-room,  with  its  rows  of  ugly  desks 
placed  in  geometrical  order,  crowded  together  so  that 
there  shall  be  as  little  moving  room  as  possible,  desks 
almost  all  of  the  same  size,  with  just  space  enough  to 
hold  books,  pencils  and  paper,  and  add  a  table,  some 
chairs,  the  bare  walls,  and  possibly  a  few  pictures,  we 
can  reconstruct  the  only  educational  activity  that  can 
possibly  go  on  in  such  a  place.  It  is  all  made  'for  listen- 
ing*— because  simply  studying  lessons  out  of  a  book  is 
only  another  kind  of  listening;  it  marks  the  dependency 
of  one  mind  upon  another.  The  attitude  of  listening 
means,  comparatively  speaking,  passivity,  absorption; 
that  there  are  certain  ready-made  materials  which  are 
there,  which  have  been  prepared  by  the  school  superin- 
tendent, the  board,  the  teacher,  and  of  which  the  child 
is  to  take  in  as  much  as  possible  in  the  least  possible 
time.  There  is  very  little  space  in  the  traditional  school- 
room for  the  child  to  work.  The  workshop,  the  labora- 
tory, the  materials,  the  tools  with  which  the  child  may  con- 
struct, create,  and  actively  inquire,  and  even  the  requisite 


186  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

space,  have  been  for  the  most  part  lacking.  The  things  that 
have  to  do  with  these  processes  have  not  even  a  definitely 
recognized  place  in  education."  (John  Dewey,  The  School 
and  Society f  pp,  32-33.*)  The  line  of  argument  seems 
to  have  run:  we  must  prepare  children  for  life;  since  in 
life  outside  school  they  get  activity  and  experience,  we 
must  withdraw  them  from  all  that,  and  give  them  an 
essentially  different  training,  which  they  could  not  get 
were  it  not  for  the  school.  Hence  the  school  has  become 
isolated  from  life,  and  highly  abstract  and  disciplinary 
in  character.  We  have  forgotten  that  in  such  a  scheme 
of  training  for  life,  we  are  sacrificing  life.  The  newer 
psychology  assures  us  that  the  only  preparation  for  life 
lies  through  life,  and  that  we  must  rely  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  processes  of  growth  for  later  manifestations 
of  mental  power. 

The  present  school  viewed  in  the  light  of  what  it  might 
become,  if  only  we  could  rid  our  minds  of  cramping  tradi- 
tion, is  a  dreary,  drab  place,  scarcely  reflecting  the  joyous 
spontaneity  of  childhood.  In  comparison  the  vision  of 
the  school  of  the  future  presents  a  delightful  contrast. 
Since  the  school  is  an  integral  part  of  the  life  of  the 
children,  the  legitimate  school  environment  will  be 
thought  of  not  merely  as  the  school  building  with  its 
special  equipment  and  its  teachers.  It  will  consist  also 
of  the  home,  the  neighborhood,  in  short  the  general  social 
setting  in  which  the  child  finds  himself.  In  this  larger 
environment  the  school  will  aim  to  serve  a  particular 
function;  it  will  be  a  middle  department  of  the  child's 
life  so  to  speak;  his  social  laboratory — the  one  place  in 
the  world  especially  designed  to  meet  his  needs,  the  place 
to  which  he  may  bring  his  problems,  the  particular  facts 
he  has  discovered,  where  he  may  exchange  information 
with  his  fellows,  where  all  the  confusing  experiences  of 
his  daily  life  may  be  simplified,  explained,  the  typical  and 
significant  phases  pointed  out,  the  whole  enriched,  ideal- 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1900  by 
The  University  of  Chicago.  Copyright  1900  and  1915  by  John 
Dewey. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  187 

ized  and  brought  into  a  more  meaningful  order,  so  that 
it  may  be  carried  back  again  into  daily  life  making  it 
fuller  and  richer  in  meaning  because  of  the  school  process. 

All  the  arrangements  within  the  school  should  be  made 
in  accordance  with  this  conception.  Since  learning  is 
essentially  active  the  school  must  be  preeminently  a  place 
adapted  to  activity.  It  will  consist  of  laboratories  of 
various  kinds  for  experimentation  and  creative  expression, 
such  as  play-rooms,  work-shops,  and  studios,  which  will 
be  provided  with  a  generous  and  carefully  thought  out 
assortment  of  materials — with  toys  and  play-things,  with 
tools  and  apparatus,  and  specimens — in  short  with  all 
sorts  of  equipment  chosen  to  act  as  stimuli  to  initiating 
and  carrying  through  active  experimentation  leading,  as 
maturity  permits,  into  the  more  controlled  forms  of  the 
arts  and  the  sciences. 

Around  these  arrangements  for  activities  should  be 
clustered  whatever  provisions  are  necessary  for  orienting 
them  by  proper  information  and  study.  Chief  among  these 
provisions  would  be  the  school  library,  where  should  be 
gathered  and  arranged  in  form  for  ready-reference,  read- 
ing-matter, pictures,  maps,  drawings  and  related  materials, 
where  inquiries  into  the  historic,  geographic,  scientific  and 
social  setting  of  matters  under  investigation  could  be 
satisfied.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  nor  desired  that  this 
library  be  of  the  ready-made  variety;  it  should  be  an 
organic  growth,  developing  in  response  to  school  needs, 
and  contributed  to  by  the  pupils  as  they  find  valuable 
material  in  their  researches  elsewhere.  Besides  the 
library  there  might  appropriately  be  a  school  museum 
where  there  might  be  in  the  process  of  collection  represen- 
tative specimens  of  the  arts  and  industries  of  the  ages. 
**In  the  ideal  school  there  would  be  something  of  this 
sort:  first,  a  complete  industrial  museum,  giving  samples 
of  materials  in  various  stages  of  manufacture,  and  the 
implements,  from  the  simplest  to  the  most  complex,  used  in 
dealing  with  them ;  then  a  collection  of  photographs  and  pic- 
tures illustrating  the  landscapes  and  scenes  from  which  the 
materials  come,  their  native  homes,  and  their  places  of  manu- 


188  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

facture.  Such  a  collection  would  be  a  vivid  and  continual 
lesson  in  the^synthesis  of  art,  science,  and  industry.  There 
would  be  also,  samples  of  the  more  perfect  forms  of 
textile  work,  as  Italian,  French,  Japanese,  and  Oriental. 
There  would  be  objects  illustrating  motives  of  design  and 
decoration  which  have  entered  into  production.  Litera- 
ture would  contribute  its  part  in  its  idealized  representa- 
tion of  the  world-industries,  as  the  Penelope  in  the  Odyssey 
— a  classic  in  literature  because  the  character  is  an  adequate 
embodiment  of  a  certain  industrial  phase  of  social  life.  So, 
from  Homer  down  to  the  present  time,  there  is  a  continuous 
procession  of  related  facts  which  have  been  translated  into 
terms  of  art.  Music  lends  its  share,  from  the  Scotch  song 
at  the  wheel  to  the  spinning  song  of  Marguerite,  or  of 
Wagner's  Senta."  (John  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society* 
pp.  79-80.)  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  with  these  oppor- 
tunities for  the  highest  forms  of  expression,  and  with  these 
materials  to  stir  the  imagination,  pupils  might  respond  in 
new  forms  of  real,  creative,  inventive  thought? 

READING 

Dewey,   John. — The  School  and  Society^   University  of 
Chicago  Press. 

Chap.  III.  Waste  in  Education. 
Dewey,  John  and  Evelyn. — Schools  of  To-morrow,  Dutton. 

Chap.  VIII.  The  School  as  a  Social  Settlement. 

*By  permission  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Copyright  1900  by 
The  University  of  Chicago.  Copyright  1900  and  1915  by  John 
Dewey. 


THE  EDUCATIVE  PROCESS  189 


POSTSCRIPT— A    CALL    TO    TEACHERS 

The  social  point  of  view  sends  a  challenge  to  every  phase 
of  our  school  procedure.  Educational  reconstruction  is 
indeed  a  big  undertaking.  Is  it  possible  of  realization? 
Or  must  we  stand  helpless  before  the  evident  failure  of 
our  educational  system  to  educate?  As  we  have  seen, 
it  is  characteristic  of  the  forward  reach  of  the  human 
mind,  to  hold  before  itself  worthy  ends  and  then  set  about 
finding  means  appropriate  to  achieving  them.  Is  it  too 
much  to  expect  that  the  social  requirements  of  education, 
once  they  are  clearly  comprehended  and  their  profound  sig- 
nificance realized,  can  be  met? 

The  great  battles  ^*to  make  the  world  safe  for  de- 
mocracy'* remain  yet  to  be  won — in  the  school-room.  Let 
us  then  refuse  longer  to  bind  the  new  life  to  the  life 
that  is  passing.  Let  us  be  no  longer  willing  to  shackle 
the  experimental  spirit  of  the  youth  of  the  world,  or  to 
place  a  ban  upon  creative  and  explorative  thought.  Let 
us  unite  to  raise  up  a  body  of  men  and  women  thinkers, 
not  partisans,  animated  by  a  great  social  consciousness, 
and  standing  ready  to  face  their  problems  eager  and 
unafraid.  It  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  can  make  of 
education  a  great  liberalizing  agent  for  the  release  of 
democratic  forces.  It  will  take  long,  patient,  painstaking* 
effort;  it  will  require  a  body  of  whole-hearted  experi- 
menters, fired  by  the  philosopher's  vision,  willing  to  sub- 
mit every  action  to  rigid  scrutiny,  and  to  extract  from 
every  failure  that  bit  of  good  which  will  lead  to  its  better 
application  in  the  future.  Are  we  ready  for  the  great 
experiment  ? 


PART   III 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  FOR  SUBJECT- 
MATTER 

The  supplying  of  subject  matter  according  to  the  needs 
of  expanding  experience  requires  a  new  organization  of 
the  sources  where  it  may  be  found.  The  old  text  books 
organized  according  to  adult  logical  classifications  are  no 
longer  adequate  to  supply  information  so  that  it  will  enter 
functionally  into  experience.  A  card  catalogue  and  an 
assortment  of  carefully  selected  books  are  an  indis- 
pensable equipment  for  the  teacher  who  wishes  to  create 
a  rich,  social  background  for  the  expanding  intelligence 
of  her  pupils.  For  such  teachers  the  following  list  of 
books  has  been  compiled.  They  are  classified  not  as  so 
much  geography,  history,  science,  etc.,  but  these  subjects 
are  all  included  under  headings  by  consideration  of  which 
they  function  in  experience.  The  bibliography  is  not 
intended  to  be  exhaustive ;  it  may  be  looked  upon  rather 
as  a  nucleus  about  which  every  teacher  will  add  such 
books  as  she  finds  directly  suited  to  her  needs,  especially 
those  dealing  with  local  matters.  Nor  can  unqualified 
approval  be  given  to  every  book  included.  The  last  repre- 
sents a  selection  from  the  best  books  to  be  had  at  present. 
Most  of  the  books  included  have  been  personally  ex- 
amined ;  those  which  have  not  have  been  taken  from  the  A. 
L.  A.  lists  or  other  reliable  sources.  It  is  difficult  to  make 
any  sharp  distinction  between  books  for  children  and  those 
for  teachers,  since  children  can  often  use  quite  advanced 
texts  under  guidance.  Books  which  have  been  definitely 
written  for  children  are,  however,  starred. 


101 


192  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

COMMUNITY    STUDY 
Food 

Production  and  Distribution 

Adams,  F.  U. — Conquest  of  the  Tropics.  Doubleday, 
Page.  The  story  of  the  creative  enterprises  con- 
ducted by  the  United  Fruit  Company.    Illustrated. 

•Bassett,  S.  "W. — The  Story  of  Sugar.    Penn  Pub.  Co. 

Bengston  and  Griffith. — The  Wheat  Industry.    Mac- 

millan.     Connected  treatment  of  the  activities  of 

wheat  production  through  the  farm,   commercial 

movements,  and  manufacturers. 

Bishop  and  Keller. — Industry  and  Trade.    Ginn. 

*Bradish,  S.  P. — Stories  of  Country  Life.     American 

Book  Co. 
Brooks,  E.  C. — The  Story  of  Corn.  Rand  McNally. 
The  purpose  is  to  combine  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  geography  and  agriculture  and  to  treat 
them  historically  in  order  that  the  youth  of  the 
country  may  appreciate  the  tremendous  importance 
of  agriculture  in  the  history  of  the  race. 

♦Browne,  E.  A. — Peeps  at-  Industries — Sugar.  Mac- 
millan.    Account  in  simple  language.     Illustrated. 

♦Browne,  B.  A. — Peeps  at  Industries — Tea.    Macmillan. 

♦Carpenter,  F.  G. — How  the  World  is  Fed.  American 
Book  Co. 

♦Carpenter,  F.  0. — Foods  and  Their  Uses.  Scribner. 
Cereals,  fruits,  vegetables,  meats,  fish,  dairy  prod- 
ucts, etc. 

♦Casson,  H.  N. — The  Romance  of  the  Reaper.  Double- 
day,  Page.  Account  in  simple  language  of  the 
development  of  the  reaping  machine. 

♦Chamberlain,  J.  F. — How  We  Are  Fed.  Macmillan. 
**The  production  and  preparation  for  market  of 
many  of  our  principal  foods. ' '    Story  form. 

♦Chase  and  Clow. — Stories  of  Industry,  Vols.  I  and  II, 
Educational  Pub.  Co. 
Crissey,    F. — The    Story    of   Foods.     Rand   McNally. 
**  Deals  with  the  human  agencies  concerned  in  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  193 

production  of  food.  We  are  given  a  glimpse  into 
the  large  business  enterprises  engaged  in  making 
it  possible  for  our  grocer  to  furnish  us  with  a 
wonderful  variety  of  foods  gathered  from  all  parts 
of  the  world. ' ' 

*Edgar,  W.  C. — The  Story  of  a  Grain  of  Wheat.  Apple- 
ton. 

*Farmer  and  Huntington. — Food  Problems.  Ginn.  To 
illustrate  the  meaning  of  food  waste  and  what  may 
be  accomplished  by  economy. 

*U.  S.  Food  Administration. — Food  Saving  amd  Sharing. 
Doubleday,  Page. 
Frederiksen,  J.  D. — The  Story  of  Milk.  Macmillan. 
Freeman  and  Chandler. — The  World*s  Commercial 
Products.  Ginn.  Authoritative  book  on  the  eco- 
nomic and  commercial  values  of  the  vegetable  prod- 
ucts of  the  world.    Fully  illustrated. 

*BiSHOP  AND  Keller. — Commercial  and  Industrial  Geog- 
raphy. Ginn.  Leading  aspects  of  commerce  and 
industry  under  three  natural  divisions  correspond- 
ing to  three  great  needs — food,  clothing,  and  shelter. 

*KiRBY,  M.  AND  E. — Aunt  Martha's  Corner  Cupboard. 
Educational  Pub.  Co.  Simple  stories  of  tea,  sugar, 
rice,  etc. 

*Lane,  M.  a.  L. — Industries  of  To-day.  Ginn.  Short 
stories  by  various  writers  on  codfishing,  ranch  life, 
etc. 

*Lyde,  L.  W. — Man  and  His  Markets.  Macmillan.  The 
chief  articles  of  necessity  and  the  organization  of 
industry  to  produce  and  distribute  each. 

*MoRRis,  C. — Home  Life  in  All  Lands y  Vol.  I.  Lippincott. 

*RocHELEAU,  W.  F. — Great  American  Industries,  Vol.  II. 
Flanagan. 

*RocHELEAU,  W.  F. —  Geography  of  Commerce  and  In- 
dustry. Educational  Pub.  Co.  Conditions  relating 
to  industries — dependence  of  industries  upon  geo- 
graphical conditions,  relation  of  man  to  environ- 
ment, effect  of  commerce  upon  civilization,  etc. 
Sherman,  H.  C. — Food  Products.  Macmillan. 
Smith,  J.  R. — The  World's  Food  Resources.    Holt. 


194  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Smith,  J.  R. — Commerce  and  Industry.  Holt.  How 
man's  industries  are  determined  by  his  environ- 
ment. The  physiographic  basis  of  the  industry 
given  in  connection  with  the  industrial  fact  that 
is  being  explained. 
♦Storm,  G.  E. — The  Water  Supply  of  a  Town  or  City. 
Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life,  Series  C. 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 

Surface,  G.  T. — The  Story  of  Sugar.    Appleton.    Oc- 
currence  in   nature,   early   history,    manufacture, 
from  refiner  to  consumer ;  our  future  sugar  supply. 
*Tappan,  E.  M. — The  Farmer  and  His  Friends.    Hough- 
ton. 

TooTHAKER,  C.  R. — Commercial  Raw  Materials.  Ginn. 
Origin,  preparation,  uses  of  great  variety  of  ma- 
terials; good  maps. 
*TwoMBLY  AND  Dana. — The  Romance  of  Labor.  Macmil- 
lan.  Stories  by  various  authors  describing  various 
occupations. 

White,  W.  A. — The  Business  of  a  Wheat  Farm.    Scrib- 
ner's  Magazine,  November,  1897. 

History 

*FoRMAN,  S.  E. — Stories  of  Useful  Inventions.    Century. 
*MoRRis,  C. — Home  Life  in  All  Lands,  Vol.  II.     Lip- 

pincott. 
♦Reynolds,  M.  J. — How  Man  Conquered  Nature.    Mac- 

millan. 
*Skeat,  W.  W. — The  Past  at  Our  Doors     Macmillan. 
(See  also  titles  under  Primitive  Life.) 

Cost 

♦Ball  and  West. — Household  Arithmetic.    Lippincott. 

♦Calfee,  J.  E. — Rural  Arithmetic.    Ginn. 

♦DooLEY,  W.  H. — Vocational  Mathematics  for  Girls. 
Heath. 

♦HoYT  AND  Peet. — Everyday  Arithmetic.  Houghton. 
"Problems  grouped  by  situations  taken  from  ac- 
tual experience  so  that  the  child  meets  numbers 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  195 

vitally  related  to  his  home  and  school  interests." 

(Preface.) 
♦Lewis,    C.    J. — Farm    Business    Arithmetic.      Heath. 

''Large  majority  of  the  problems  have  been  taken 

from  actual  conditions. ' '    ( Preface. ) 
Richards,  E.  H. — The  Cost  of  Food,    Wiley. 
Rose,  M.  S. — Feeding  the  Family.    Macmillan. 

Science 

Brownlee,  R.  B.,  and  others. — Chemistry  of  Common 
Things.    AUyn  and  Bacon. 

Clark,  B.  M. — General  Science.  American  Book  Co. 
Facts  about  heat,  food,  light,  etc.,  in  every-day 
applications.    Fermentation,  bleaching,  dyeing,  etc. 

Conn,  H.  W. — Bacteria,  Yeasts,  and  Molds  in  the  Home, 
Ginn. 

Goodrich,  C.  L. — The  First  Book  of  Farming.  Double- 
day. 

Richards  and  Elliott. — Chemistry  of  Cooking  and 
Cleaning.    Whitcomb  and  Barrows. 

Van  Buskirk  and  Smith. — The  Science  of  Every-day 
Life.    Houghton. 

Hygiene 

Conley,  E. — Nutrition  and  Diet.    American  Book  Co. 
♦Denton,  M.  C. — An  Intelligently  Selected  Diet,  Lessons 
in  Community  and  National  Life,  Series  B.   U.  S. 
Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 
Jordan,  W.  H. — Principles  of  Human  Nutrition.    Mac- 
millan. 
*KiNNE  and  Cooley. — Food  and  Health.    Macmillan. 
McCollum,  E.  V. — The  Newer  Knowledge  of  Nutrition. 

Macmillan. 
Richards,  E.  H. — Food  Materials  and  Their  Adultera- 
tion.   Whitcomb  and  Barrows. 
Rose,  M.  S. — Feeding  the  Family.    Macmillan. 
♦TuTTLE,  T.  D. — Principles  of  PuhUc  Health.     World 
Book  Co. 


196  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Clothing 

production  and  Distribution 

Adams,  S.  A. — The  Department  Store,    Scribner's  Mag- 
azine, January,  1897. 
AiKiN,  C.  G. — Millinery.     Ronald  Press.     Straws  and 
braids,  making,  trimming,  principles  of  color,  form, 
and  shape. 

*Bassett,  S.  W.-'The  Story  of  Silk.    Penn  Pub.  Co. 

*Bassett,  S.  W.—TJie  Story  of  Wool.  Penn  Pub.  Co.  In 

story  form,  illustrated. 
BiGWOOD,  G. — Cotton.    Holt.    History,  production,  mar- 
keting, and  manufacture. 

*BiSHOP  AND  Keller. — Industry  and  Trade.    Ginn. 

♦Brooks,  E.  C.—TJie  Story  of  Cotton.  Rand  McNally. 
Treats  the  industry  in  its  economic  relation  to 
people,  traces  development  from  primitive  times  to 
the  present;  to  be  used  with  older  children. 

♦Browne,  E.  A. — Peeps  at  Industries — Rubber.     Mac- 

millan.     Account  in  simple  language,  illustrated. 

BuRKETT  AND  PoE. — Cotton.    Doublcday,  Page.    Cotton 

raising  in  the  South ;  the  cotton  plant,  how  it  grows, 

marketing,  manufacture,  by-products. 

♦Carpenter,  F.  G. — How  the  World  Is  Clothed.  Ameri- 
can Book  Co. 

♦Chamberlain,  J.  F. — How  We  Are  Clothed.  Macmillan. 

♦Chase  and  Clow. — Stories  of  Industry.  Vol.  2.  Educa- 
tional Pub.  Co. 

♦Cooke,  A.  0. — A  Visit  to  a  Cotton  Mill.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press. 

♦Cooke,  A.  O. — A  Visit  to  a  Woolen  Mill.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press. 

♦Cooke,  A.  0. — A  Day  with  the  Leather  Workers.  Oxford 
University  Press. 

♦Curtis,  A.  T.—The  Story  of  Cotton.    Perm  Pub.  Co.  In 

story  form,  illustrated. 
Dooley,  W.  H. — Textiles.    Heath. 
Gibson,  C.  R. — Romance  of  Modern  Manufacture.    Lip- 
pincott. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  197 

♦Hall,  J. — Wea/vers  and  Other  Workers.  Rand  McNally. 

Reading  book  for  younger  children. 
Hubert,  P.  G. — The  Business  of  a  Factory.   Scribner's 

Magazine,  March,  1897. 
Keller  and  Bishop. — Commercial  and  Industrial  Geog- 

raphy.    Ginn. 
KiNNE  AND  CooLEY. — Shelter  and  Clothing.    Macmillan. 
*Lane,  M.  a.  L. — Industries  of  To-day.    Ginn. 
*Laut,  a.  C. — The  Story  of  the  Trapper.    Appleton. 
Lehman,  M.  A. — Leather  Goods.    Ronald  Press.    Quali- 
ties of  good  leather,  substitutes,  preparation,  manu- 
facture, etc. 
*Lyon,  L.  S. — The  Worker  in  Our  Society,  Lessons  in 
Community  and  National  Life,  Series  A.     U.  S. 
Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 
McGowan  and  Waite. — Textiles  and  Clothing.     Mac- 
millan. 
Moore,  A.  S. — Linen;  from  the  Raw  Material  to  the 

Finished  Product.    Pitman  and  Co. 
*Morris,  C. — Home  Life  in  all  Lands,  Vol.  I.    Lippincott. 
*MowRY,  W.  A.  and  a.  M. — American  Inventions  and 

Inventors.    Silver,  Burdette. 
Nystrom,  p.  H. — Textiles.     Appleton.     The  essential 
facts  regarding  the  ordinary  textiles  of  commerce, 
methods  of  manufacture  and  distribution,  tests  to 
determine  quality,  economic  aspects. 
Omerod,  F. — Wool.     Holt.     History,  production,  mar- 
keting and  manufacture. 
♦RocHELEAU,  W.  F. — Great  American  Industries,  Vol. 

III.    Flanagan. 
*RocHELEAU,  W.  F. — Geography  of  Commerce  amd  Indus- 
try.   Educational  Pub.  Co. 
ScHERER,  J.  A.  B. — Cotton  as  a  World  Power.    Stokes. 
*ScHiLLiG,  E.  E. — The  Four  Wonders.    Rand  McNally. 
The  Production  of  cotton,  wool,  linen,  and  silk. 
Illustrated. 
Stepfens,  L. — The  Modern  Business  Building.    Scrib- 
ner's  Magazine,  July,  1897. 
*Tappan,  E.  M. — Makers  of  Many  Things.    Houghton. 


198  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Thompson,  E.  B. — Cotton  and  Linen  Goods.    Ronald 
Press.    Sources  and  cultivation  of  cotton  and  linen, 
spinning,  weaving,  color,  design,  dyeing. 
ToOTHAKER,  C.  E. — Commercial  Raw  Materials.    Ginn. 

*Van  Hoesen,  G. — Cotton  Factory  and  Its  Workers. 
Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life,  Series  B. 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 

♦Very,  E. — Warp  and  Woof,  the  Story  of  the  Textile 
Arts.    Educational  Pub.  Co. 

♦Wilkinson  F. — The  Story  of  the  Cotton  Plant.  Apple- 
ton. 

History 
*FoRMAN,  S.  E. — Stories  of  Useful  Inventions.    Century. 
♦Holland,  R.  S. — Historic  Inventions.    Jacobs. 
♦Lamprey,    L. — In   the   Days   of   the    Guild.      Stokes. 

Stories  of  the  golden  age  of  English  arts  and  crafts 

— ^wool  merchants,  wood  carvers,  etc.     Illustrated. 
♦Lyon,  L.  S. — The  Rise  of  Machine  Industry.    Lessons 

in  Community  and  National  Life,  Series  A.    U.  S. 

Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 
♦Morris,  C. — Home  Life  in  All  Lands,  Vol.  II.     Lip- 

pincott. 
♦MowRY,  W.  A.  AND  A.  M. — Anlerican  Inventions  and 

Inventors.    Silver,  Burdette. 
♦Reynolds,  M.  J. — How  Man  Conquered  Nature.    Mac- 

millan. 
♦Skeat,  W.  W. — The  Past  at  Our  Doors.    Macmillan. 
♦Tryon,  R.  M. — Spinning  and  Dyeing  Linen  in  Colonial 

Times.    Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life, 

Series  C. 
♦Watson,    K.    H. — Textiles   and    Clothing.     American 

School  of  Home  Economics.    Primitive  methods  of 

spinning  and  weaving.     Illustrated. 

{See  also  titles  under  primitive  life.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  199 

Cost 

*Ball  and  West. — Household  Arithmetic,    Lippincott. 

*DooLEY,    W.    H. — Vocational   Mathematics   for   Girls, 
Heath. 

♦Gardener    and    Murtland.  —  Industrial    Arithmetic. 
Heath. 
Science 

*Brownlee,  Fuller  and  others. — Chemistry  of  Com- 
mon Things.    Allyn  and  Bacon. 

*Clark,  B.  M. — General  Science,  American  Book  Co. 

*Van  Buskirk  and  Smith. — The  Science  of  Every -day 
Life.    Houghton. 

Hygiene 
*Kinne  and  Cooley. — Clothing  and  Health.    Macmillan. 
♦Tuttle,  T.  D. — Principles  of  Public  Health,    World 
Book  Co. 

Shelter 
Production  and  Distribution 

*Barnard,  C. — Tools  and  Machines.    Silver,  Burdette. 
*Balderston,  L.  R. — Housewifery.    Lippincott.    Manual 
of    practical    housekeeping;    plumbing,    heating, 
lighting,  furnishings,  etc. 
*Bassett,  S.  W. — Story  of  Lumber.    Penn  Pub.  Co.    In- 
formation about  lumber  camps  and  conservation. 
Illustrated. 
*Bassett,  S.  W.—The  Story  of  Glass.    Penn  Pub.  Co. 
History  and  development  of  glass  making.     Story 
form. 
♦Bassett,  S.  W. — The  Story  of  Porceladn.  Penn  Pub.  Co. 
Bevier,  I. — The  House.     Amer.  School  of  Home  Eco- 
nomics.   Evolution  of  house,  arrangement  of  rooms, 
furnishings,  decorations,  care,  etc. 
BiNNS,  C.  F. — Story  of  the  Potter.    Wessels. 
Binns,  C.  F. — The  Potter's  Craft.    Van  Nostrand. 
*BiSHOP  and  Keller. — Industry  and  Trade.    Ginn. 
*Carpenter,  F.  G. — How  the  World  Is  Housed.    Ameri- 
can Book  Co. 


200  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Casson,  H.  N. — The  Romance  of  Steel.  Barnes.  An 
account  of  the  growth  of  the  steel  industry  and  the 
men  concerned  in  it. 

•Chamberlain,  J.  F. — How  We  Are  Sheltered.  Mac- 
millan. 

*Chase  and  Clow. — Stories  of  Industry,  Vols.  Z  and  II. 
Educational  Pub.  Co. 
Clark,  T.  M. — The  Care  of  the  House.     Macmillan. 
How  the  house  is  built,  heating,  plumbing,  gas, 
electricity,  etc. 

*CooKE,  A.  0. — A  Day  in  an  Iron  Works.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press. 

•Cooke,  A.  0. — A  Visit  to  a  Coal  Mine.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press. 

•DoRRANCE,  J.  G. — The  Story  of  the  Forest.    American 

Book  Co. 
Greene,  H. — Coal  and  Coal  Mines.    Houghton. 

•Hill,  H.  C. — The  Wonder  Book  of  Knowledge.  John 
C.  Winston.  Short  accounts  of  a  number  of  famil- 
iar things. 

•Hopkins,  "W.  J. — The  Doers.    Houghton.    Short  stories 
in  very  simple  language  about  the  various  workmen 
engaged  in  building  a  house. 
Husband,  J. — A  Year  in  a  Coal  Mine.    Houghton.    Keal 

experiences  of  the  author. 
Hutchinson,  E.  L. — House  Furnishings.  Eonald  Press. 

Materials  and  manufacture. 
Keller  and  Bishop. — Commercial  and  Industrial  Geog- 
raphy.   Ginn. 

•KiNNE  AND  CooLEY. — Shelter  and  Clothing.    Macmillan. 

•Lane,  M.  A.  L. — Industries  of  To-day.    Ginn. 

•Martin,  E.  A. — The  Story  of  a  Piece  of  Coal.  Ap- 
pleton. 

•McFee,  I.  N. — Little  Tales  of  Common  Things.  Crowell. 
Short  account  in  story  form  of  various  articles. 

•Meade,  C.  D. — The  Story  of  Gold.  Appleton.  Develop- 
ment of  modern  gold  mining  industry. 

•Morris,  C. — Home  Life  in  all  Lands,  Vol.  I.    Lippincott. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  201 

*Parker,  E.  p. — Petroleum  and  Its  Uses,  Lessons  in 
Community  and  National  Life,  Series  C.     U.  S. 
Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 
PiNCHOT,  G. — A  Primer  in  Forestry.  Farmer's  Bulletin 
173.    U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 

*Redway,  J.  W. — Commercial  Geography.    Scribner. 

*RocHELEAU,  W.  F. — Great  American  Industries,  Vols, 
II  and  III.    Flanagan. 

*RocHELEAU,  W.  F. — Geography  of  Commerce  and  In- 
dustry.   Educational  Pub.  Co, 

*Samuel,  E.  I. — Story  of  Iron  and  Steel.  Penn  Pub  Co. 
Method  of  mining  and  making  into  machines. 

*Samuel,  E.  I. — Story  of  Gold  and  Silver.  Penn  Pub. 
Co.  Methods  of  mining,  description  of  the  process 
of  minting,  and  something  about  currency. 

*Shinn,  C.  H. — The  Story  of  the  Mine.  Appleton.  An 
attempt  to  describe  in  a  clear  and  simple  way  some 
of  the  every  day  features  as  well  as  the  unusual 
things  connected  with  mines,  keeping  constantly  in 
view  the  human  elements. 
Smith,  J.  R. — The  Story  of  Iron  and  Steel.  Apple- 
ton. 

*Smith,  J.  R. — Iron  and  Steel.   Lessons  in  Community 
and  National  Life,   Series   C.     U.   S.   Bureau  of 
Education,  1918. 
Talbot,  F.  A.  A. — Oil  Conquest  of  the  World.    Heine- 

mann. 
Talbot  and  Breckinridge. — The  Modern  Household. 
Whitcomb  and  Barrows.  The  household  as  a 
social  unit,  as  the  center  of  consumption,  the  activi- 
ties of  the  household,  the  household  and  the  com- 
munity. 

*Tappan,  E.  M. — Diggers  in  the  Earth.    Houghton. 

*Tappan,  E.  M. — Makers  of  Many  Things.    Houghton. 
Toothaker,  C.  R. — Commercial  Raw  Materials.    Ginn. 
Tower,  W.  S.—The  Story  of  Oil.    Appleton. 
White,  M. — The  Fuels  of  the  Household.    Whitcomb 
and  Barrows.    Composition,  combustion,  incandes- 
cence. 


202  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

*WiLLiAMS,  A. — Tke  Romance  of  Modern  Mining.  Lip- 
pincott.  Description  in  simple  language  of  the 
mining  of  different  minerals  in  different  parts  of 
the  world  in  ancient  and  modern  times. 

History 

*FoRMAN,  S.  E. — Stones  of  Useful  Inventions.  Cen- 
tury. 

*HoLLAND,  R.  S. — Historic  Inventions.    Jacobs. 

*MoRRis,  C. — Home  Life  in  All  Lands,  Vol.  II.  Lippin- 
cott. 

*MowRY,  "W.  A.  AND  A.  M. — American  Inventions  and 
Inventors.    Silver,  Burdette. 

*QuENNELL,  M.  AND  C.  H.  B. — A  History  of  Every-day 
Things  in  England.     Scribner. 

♦Reynolds,  M.  J. — How  Man  Conquered  Nature.  Mac- 
millan. 

♦Skeat,  W.  W. — The  Pasi  at  Our  Doors.  Macmillan. 
ViOLLET-LE-Duc,  E.  E. — The  Habitations  of  Man  in 
All  Ages.  Osgood.  Very  valuable,  tracing  ''the 
origin  and  development  of  domestic  architecture 
among  the  several  races  of  mankind,  the  modes  in 
which  human  dwellings  have  been  constructed,  and 
the  appearance  and  manners  of  their  inhabitants 
from  prehistoric  times  down  to  modern  times.'* 
Waterhouse,  p.  L. — The  Story  of  the  Art  of  Building. 
Appleton.  Traces  the  course  of  architecture  from 
Egyptian  down  to  modem  times. 

(See  also  titles  under  Primitive  Life.) 

Cost 
*Ball  and  West. — Household  Arithmetic.    Lippincott. 
*Brookman,  a.  T. — Family  Expense  Account.    Heath. 
*Calfee,  J.  E. — Rural  Arithmetic.    Ginn. 
*DooLEY,   W.    H. — Vocational   Mathematics   for   Girls. 

Heath. 
*HoYT  AND  Peet. — Evcry-day  Arithmetic.    Houghton. 
Sheaffer,   W.   a. — Household  Accounting   and  Eco- 
nomics.  Macmillan, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  203 

Terrill,  B.  M. — Household  Management.  American 
School  of  Home  Economics.  Household  accounts, 
marketing,  economy  in  spending,  etc. 

Science 
♦Brownlee,  R.  B.,  and  others. — Chemistry  of  Common 

Things.    AUyn  and  Bacon. 
*Clarke,  B.  M. — General  Science.    American  Book  Co. 
DoDD,  M.  E. — Chemistry  of  the  Household.    American 
School  of  Home  Economics.     A  day's  chemistry 
— an  outline  of  the  simple  and  most  evident  chem- 
ical changes  suggested  by  a  day's  work  at  home. 
*Faraday,  M. — Chemical  History  of  a  Candle.    Button. 
Description  of  the  science  involved  in  a  candle, 
written  in  a  simple  style  suitable  for  young  people. 
*HoDGDON,  D.  R. — Elementary  General  Science.    Hinds, 

Hayden  and  Eldredge. 
Lynde,  C.  J. — Physics  of  the  Household.    Macmillan. 
The  physics  of  mechanical  appliances,  water  supply, 
heat,  electricity,  light  in  the  home. 
*Trafton,   G.  H. — Science  of  Home  and  Community. 

Macmillan. 
♦Van  Buskirk  and  Smith. — The  Science  of  Every -day 

Life.    Houghton. 
Williams,  H.  S.  and  E.  H. — Science  in  the  Industrial 
World.     Goodhue.     Description  of  the  telephone, 
telegraph,  manufacture  of  paper,  paints,  dyes,  etc. 

Hygiene 

Broadhurst,  J. — Home  and  Community  Hygiene.  Lip- 
pincott. 

Capes  and  Carpenter. — Municipal  House  Cleaning. 
Dutton.  Full  discussion  of  the  methods  and  ex- 
periences of  American  cities  in  collecting  and  dis- 
posing of  ashes,  garbage,  sewage,  etc. 

Elliott,  S.  M. — Household  Hygiene.  American  School 
of  Home  Economics.  The  health  of  the  home,  the 
best  situation  for  the  house,  importance  of  the 
cellar,  drainage,  plumbing,  ventilating,  etc. 


204  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Gerhard,  W.  P. — Disposal  of  Household  Wastes.    Van 

Nostrand. 
*0'Shea  and  Kellogg. — Heath  and  Cleanliness,    Mac- 

millan. 
Prudden,  T.  M. — Dust  and  Its  Dangers.    Putnam. 
Pbudden,  T.  M. — The  Story  of  Bacteria,    Putnam. 


Transportation 

General 

♦Adams,  C.  C. — Elementary  Commercial  Geography. 
Appleton.  Emphasis  given  to  improved  transporta- 
tion, the  application  of  steam-power  to  machinery, 
and  the  progress  in  chemical  science  as  the  main 
factors  in  the  development  of  commerce  and  indus- 
tries. 

*BiSHOP  AND  Keller. — Industry  and  Trade.    Ginn. 

♦Carpenter,  F.  G. — How  the  World  Travels.  American 
Book  Co. 

♦Chamberlain,  J.  F. — How  We  Travel.    Macmillan. 
Day,  C. — History  of  Commerce.    Longmans.     Account 
of  the  commerce  of  various  nations  from  the  time 
of  the  early  Egyptians  to  the  present. 

♦Dunham,  E. — Jogging  around  the  World.  Stokes.  Pic- 
tures and  short  descriptions  of  vehicles  and  beasts 
of  burden  in  many  countries. 

♦Gregory,  Keller  and  Bishop. — Physical  and  Commer- 
cial Geography.  Ginn.  Discusses  the  relation  of 
man  to  his  environment,  and  the  geographic  in- 
fluences on  trade. 

♦Hall,  C. — Wonders  of  Transport.    Blackie,  London. 

♦Holland,  E.  S. — Historic  Inventions.    Jacobs. 

♦Lane,  M.  A.  L. — Triumphs  of  Science.    Ginn. 

♦Morris,  C. — Home  Life  in  All  Lands,  Vol.  I.  Lippin- 
cott. 

♦MowRY,  W.  A.  AND  A.  M. — American  Inventions  and 
Inventors.    Silver,  Burdette. 

♦Redway,  J.  W. — Commercial  Geography.    Scribner. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  205 

*RocHELEAU,  W.  F. — Great  American  Industries,  Vol.  4, 

Flanagan. 
•Smith  and  Jewett. — An  Introduction  to  Science.    Mac- 

millan. 
*Smith,  J.  R. — Industrial  and  Commercial  Geography. 

Holt.     A  standard  text   dealing  with   the   trade 

routes  and  the  source  and  nature  of  materials  for 

manufacture. 
♦Tappan,  E.  M. — Travellers  and  Travelling.    Houghton. 
*Van  Buskirk  and  Smith. — TJie  Science  of  Every-day 

Life.     Houghton. 
*Werthner,  W.  B. — How  Man  Makes  Markets.    Mac- 

miUan.    The  story  of  commerce  simply  told. 

Eoads 
♦Moore,  C.  H. — Good  Roads.  Lessons  in  Community  and 
National  Life,  Series  B.    U.  S.  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion, 1918. 
Page,  L.  W. — Roads,  PathSf  and  Bridges.    Macmillan. 
*Ravenel,   S.  W. — Road  Primer  for  School   Children. 
McClurg.     Elementary  principles  and  practice  of 
road-making.       Construction     and     maintenance, 
causes  and  effects  of  good  roads. 

Streets 

Cohen,    Mrs.   J.    H.^What    We   Should   All   Know 

About  Our  Streets.    Women's  Municipal  League. 

New  York. 
Fleming,  R.  D. — Railroad  and  Street  Transportation. 

Russell  Sage  Foundation. 
Gutmann,  L. — The  Motorman  and  His  Duties.     Mc- 

Graw  Hill  Book  Co. 

Railroads 

Crump,  I. — The  Boys'  Book  of  Railroads.    Dodd,  Mead. 

*HusBAND,  J. — The  Story  of  the  Pullman  Car.    Stokes. 

Johnson    and    van    Metre. — Principles    of    Railroad 

Transportation.    Appleton.    Full  discussion  of  all 

matters  connected  with  railroads. 


206  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Talbot,  F.  A.  A. — Rmlway  Wonders  of  the  World, 

Cassell. 
Talbot,  F.  A.  A. — Railway  Conquest  of  the  World. 

Heinemann. 
♦Warman,  Cy. — The  Story  of  the  Radlroad.   Appleton. 

Water 

*Chatterton,  E.  K. — Sailing  Ships  and  Their  Story. 
Lippincott. 

*CooKE,  A.  0. — A  Day  in  a  Ship  Yard.  Oxford  Univer- 
sity Press. 

*DoRLiNG,  T. — All  About  Ships.    Cassell. 

♦Grant,  Gordon. — The  Story  of  the  Ship.  McLoughlin 
Bros.  Large  colored  pictures  showing  ships  from 
early  times  to  the  present.  Short  descriptions 
underneath. 

*Hall,  C. — Conquests  of  the  Sea. — ^Blackie.  What  the 
sea  is,  the  beginning  of  shipping,  birth  of  steam 
navigation,  etc. 

*HowDEN,  J.  R. — The  Boys'  Book  of  Steamships.  Stokes. 
Comprehensive  history  of  steam-boats,  their  evolu- 
tion and  construction,  illustrated. 

*Ingersoll,  E. — The  Book  of  the  Ocean.  Century.  Tides, 

currents,  building  of  ships,  early  voyages,  etc. 
Talbot,  F.  A.  A. — Steamship  Conquest  of  the  World, 
Lippincott.    Written  to  show  how  water  transporta- 
tion has  developed ;  the  rapid  growth  of  the  express 
liner  during  the  last  hundred  years.    Illustrated. 

Communication 

*Butler,  F.  0. — The  Story  of  Paper  Making.  Butler 
Paper  Co.,  Chicago. 

•Casson,  H.  N. — The  History  of  the  Telephone.  Mc- 
Clnrg.  An  account  in  simple  language  of  the 
invention  and  development  of  the  telephone. 

•Chase  and  Clow. — Stories  of  Industry,  Vol.  2.    Edu- 
cational Pub.  Co. 
Clodd,  E. — The  Story  of  the  Alphabet.    Appleton. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  207 

Davenport,  C. — The  Book:  Its  History  and  Develop- 
ment.   Van  Nostrand. 
Dibble,  G.  B. — The  Newspaper.    Holt. 

*DuNN,  A.  W. — The  Community  and  the  Citizen.  Heath. 

*FoRMAN,  S.  E. — Stories  of  Useful  Inventions.   Century. 

♦Gibson,  C.  R. — How  Telegraphs  and  Telephones  Work. 
Lippincott. 

♦Holland,  R.  S. — Historic  Inventions.    Jacobs. 

*Jewett,  F.  G. — Town  and  City.    Ginn. 

*Lane,  M.  a.  L. — Industries  of  To-day.    Ginn. 

*MowRY,  W.  A.  and  a.  M. — American  Inventions  and 

Inventors.    Silver,  Burdette. 
Rav^lings,  G.  B. — The  Story  of  Books.    Appleton. 

*Reavis,  W.  C. — Telephone  and  Telegraph.  Lessons  in 
Community  and  National  Life,  Series  B.  U.  S. 
Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 

♦Reynolds,  M.  J. — How  Man  Conquered  Nature.  Mac- 
millan. 

♦Rocheleau,  "W.  F. — Great  American  Industries,  Vols. 
Ill  and  IV.    Flanagan. 

*Rolt-Wheeler,  F.  W. — Boy  with  the  United  States 

Modi.    Lothrop. 
SiNDALL,   R.   W. — The  Manufacture  of  Paper.     Van 

Nostrand, 
Steffens,  L. — The  Business  of  a  Newspaper.    Scribner's 

Magazine,  October,  1897. 
Tov^rs,   W.   H. — Masters  of  Space.     Harper.     Com- 
munications among  the  ancients,  signals  past  and 
present,  fore-runners  of  the  telegraph,  the  cable, 
the  telephone,  etc. 

•Van  Buskirk  and  Smith. — The  Science  of  Everyday 
Life.    Houghton. 

Conservation  of  Wealth 

♦Austin,  0.  P. — Uncle  Sam^s  Secrets.    Appleton. 
♦Calfee,  J.  E. — Rural  Arithmetic.    Ginn. 
♦Dole,  C.  F. — The  Young  Citizen.    Heath.  • 

FiSKE,  A.  K. — The  Modern  Bank.    Appleton, 


208  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Harris,  R.  S. — Practical  Banking.    Houghton. 

*HoYT  AND  Peet. — Everyday  Arithmetic.    Houghton. 

*KiRKPATRiCK,  E.  A. — Money  in  the  Community  and  the 
Home.   Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life, 
Series  C.    U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 
KiRKPATRiCK,  E.  A. — The  Use  of  Money.  Bobbs  Merrill. 
Lanier,  C. — The  Working  of  a  Bank.    Scribner's  Mag- 
azine, May,  1897. 

*Lyon,  L.  S. — The  Services  of  Money.  Lessons  in  Com- 
munity and  National  Life,  Series  A.  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Education,  1918. 

*Marriott,  C. — Uncle  Sam's  Business.    Harper. 

*MouLTON,  H.  Q. — The  Commercial  Bank  and  Modern 
Business.  Lessons  in  Community  and  National 
Life,  Series  A.    U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 

*McLouGHLiN,  K. — Before  Coins  Were  Made.  Lessons  in 
Community  and  National  Life,  Series  C. 

♦Reticker,  R. — The  Minting  of  Coins.  Lessons  in  Com- 
munity and  National  Life,  Series  C. 

*Reynolds,  M.  J. — How  Man  Conquered  Nature.  Mac- 
millan. 

Education 

♦Dole,  C.  F. — The  Young  Citizen.    Heath, 
*DuNN,  A.  W. — The  Community  and  the  Citizen.  Heath. 
*HiLL,  M. — Lessons  for  Junior  Citizens.    Ginn. 
*NiDA,  W.  L. — City,  State  and  Nation,    Macmillan. 

Recreation 

Collier,  J. — The  Lantern  Bearers.    The  Survey,  June, 
1915,  and  January,  May  and  July,  1916. 
*HiLL,  M. — Lessons  for  Junior  Citizens,  Ginn. 
*Jewett,  F.  G. — Town  and  City.    Ginn. 
*MoRRis,  C. — Ho7m  Life  in  All  Lands,  Vol.  11.     Lip- 

pincott. 
Mackaye,  p. — The  Civic  Theatre  in  Relation  to  Re- 
demption of  Leisure,    Mitchell  Kennerly. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  209 


Religion 

•Abbott,  E. — Charity  in  tJie  Community.     Lessons  in 

Community  and  National  Life,  Series  C.     U.  S. 

Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 

Cutting,  R.  F. — The  Church  and  Society.    Macmillan. 

*DuNN,  A.  W. — The  Community  and  the  Citizen.  Heath. 

♦Morris,  C. — Home  Life  in  All  Lands,  Vol.  JI.    Lip- 

pincott. 

*SoARES,   T.   G. — The  Church  as   a  Social  Institution. 

Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life,  Series  B. 

Protection 

Against  Fires 

*Crump,  I. — The  Boys'  Book  of  Firerrien.    Dodd,  Mead. 

*DowNES,  A.  M. — Fire  Fighters  and  Their  Pets.  Harper. 

*HiLL,  C.  T. — Fighting  a  Fire.     Century. 

*HiLL,  M. — Lessons  for  Junior  Citizens.    Ginn. 

♦Jenks,  T. — The  Fireman.    McClurg. 

*Jewett,  F.  G. — Town  and  City.    Ginn. 

♦RiCHMAN  AND  Wallach. — Good  CitizensMp.    American 

Book  Co. 
Weeks,  A.  D. — The  Avoidance  of  Fires.    Heath. 

Against  Disease 

*Bramhall,  F.  D. — How  the  City  Cares  for  Health, 
Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life,  Series  C. 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 
*DuNN,  A.  W. — The  Community  and  the  Citizen.  Heath. 
*HiLL,  M. — Lessons  for  Junior  Citizens.    Ginn. 
Hutchinson,  W. — Community  Hygiene.    Houghton. 
*Jewett,  F.  G. — Town  and  City.    Ginn. 
*RiCHMAN  AND  Wallach. — Good  CitizensMp.    American 

Book  Co. 
*Ritchie,  J.  W. — Primer  of  Sanitation.    World  Book  Co. 
Sedgwick,  W.  T. — Principles  of  Sanitary  Science  and 
the  Public  Health.    Macmillan. 


210  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

SoPER,   G.   A. — Modern  MetJiods   of   Street    Cleaning, 

Engineering  News  Co. 
Waring,  G.  E. — Street  Cleaning.    Doubleday. 

Against  Anti-Social  Persons 

*Crump,  I. — Boys'  Book  of  Policemen.     Dodd,  Mead. 
♦Dole,  C.  F. — The  Young  Citizen.    Heath. 
*HiLL,  M. — Lessons  for  Jundor  Citizens.    Ginn. 
Osborne,  T.  M. — Society  and  Prisons.    Yale  University 
Press. 
*RiCHMAN  AND  Wallach. — Good  Citizenship.    American 

Book  Co. 
Woods,  A. — Policeman  and  Public,     Yale  University 
Press. 

Govemment 

*Ayres,  E. — Custom  as  the  Basis  for  Law.    Lessons  in 

Community  and  National  Life,  Series  C.     U.  S. 

Bureau  of  Education,  1918. 
•Dole,  C.  F.—TJie  Young  Citizen.    Heath. 
*DuNN,  A.  W. — Cooperation  through  Law.    Lessons  in 

Community  and  National  Life,  Series  C. 
♦Edwards,  G. — How  State  Laws  are  Made  and  Enforced. 

Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life,  Series  B. 
♦Spencer,  W.  H. — The  Development  of  a  System  of 

Laws.    Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life, 

Series  B. 

Primitive  Life 

♦Bayliss,  C.  K.—Lolami,  the  Little  Cliff  Dweller.  Public 
School  Publishing  Co. 

♦Brown,  E.  V. — When  the  World  Was  Young.  World 
Book  Co.  Short  accounts  by  various  authors  on 
various  historical  topics;  the  story  of  the  food 
quest,  the  story  of  transportation,  the  story  of 
lighting  and  heating. 
Clodd,  E. — The  Childhood  of  the  World.  Macmillan. 
A  simple  account  of  man  in  early  times. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  211 

*Dopp,  K.  E. — The  Tree  Dwellers.  Rand.  Primitive 
man,  his  ways  of  getting  fire,  and  the  changes 
wrought  in  society  by  its  use. 

*Dopp,  K.  E. — The  Early  Cave  Men.  Rand.  Improve- 
ments in  clothing,  in  devices  for  carrying,  and  in 
tools  and  weapons. 

*Dopp,  K.  E. — The  Later  Cave  Men.  Rand.  The  mas- 
tery of  many  mechanical  appliances,  and  the  devel- 
opment of  social  cooperation. 

*Dopp,  K.  'E.—TJie  Early  Sea  People.  Rand.  The  life 
of  fishing  people.  The  social  cooperation  involved  in 
manufacturing  and  in  expeditions  on  the  deep  seas. 

♦Elliott,  G.  F.  Scott. — Stories  of  Savage  Life.  Lip- 
pincott.  Description  of  the  life  of  primitive  man, 
his  customs,  language,  occupations,  beliefs,  arts, 
crafts,  etc.    Illustrated. 

♦Hall,  H.  R. — Days  before  History.    Crowell. 
Hutchinson,    H.    W. — Extinct    Monsters.     Appleton. 
Account  of  animals  of  prehistoric  times.     Illus- 
trated. 
JOLY,  J. — Man  before  Metals.    Appleton.    Origin  and 
use  of  fire,   clothing,  industries,  weapons,  imple- 
ments, primitive  agriculture,  domestication  of  ani- 
mals, beginning  of  navigation,  etc. 
Mason,   0.   T. — Origins   of  Invention.     Scribner.     A 
study  of  industry  among  primitive  people.     Illus- 
trated. 
Mason,  0.  T. — Woman's  Share  in  Primitive  Culture. 
Appleton.     Description  of  women's  work  in  early 
times  as  food-bringer,  weaver,  skin-dresser,  potter, 
etc.    Illustrated. 
Mason,   0.  T. — Primitive   Travel  and  Transportation. 

Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  1894. 
Mason,  0.  T. — The  Human  Beast  of  Burden.     U.  S. 
National  Museum  Report,   1887.     An  account  of 
primitive  methods  and  the  evolution  of  travelling. 
Illustrated. 

*McIntyre,  M.  a. — The  Cave  Boy  of  the  Age  of  Stone. 
Appleton. 


212  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

♦Morris,  C. — Home  Life  in  All  Lands,  Vol,  2.    Lippin- 

cott.    Manners  and  customs  of  uncivilized  peoples. 
Nadaillac,  J.  F.  A. — Manners  and  Monuments  of  Pre- 
historic People.     Putnam.     Food,  weapons,  tools, 
clothing,  industry,  social  organization. 
Starr,    F. — Some    First   Steps   in    Human   Progress, 
Chautauqua    Press.      Fire-making,    food    getting, 
basketry  and  pottery,  houses,  dress,  etc. 
Tylor,  E.  B. — Anthropology.    Appleton. 
♦Waterloo,  S. — The  Story  of  Ah.    Doubled  ay.    Portions 
can  be  used  with   children  to  illustrate   various 
phases  of  primitive  life. 


OUR   NATIONAL   LIFE 
General 

♦Allen,  N.  B. — Geographical  and  Industrial  Studies^ 
United  States.    Ginn 

♦Bishop  and  Keller. — Industry  and  Trade.    Ginn. 
Brigham,  a.  p. — Geographic  Influences  in  American 
History.    Ginn. 

♦Carpenter,  F.  G. — Geographical  Reader — America. 
American  Book  Co 

♦Chamberlain,  J.  F.  and  A.  H. — The  Continents  and 
Their  People — North  America.    Macmillan. 

♦Dryer,  C.  R. — Elementary  Economic  Geography.  Amer- 
ican Book  Co. 

♦Fisher,  E.  F. — Resources  and  Industries  of  the  United 
States.    Ginn. 
Herbertson,  a.  J. — North  America.    Macmillan. 

♦Hotchkiss,  C.  "W. — Representative  Cities  of  the  United 
States.  Houghton.  The  cities  selected  represent 
great  centers  of  industry  and  life.  Just  enough  of 
the  history  of  the  city  is  given  to  explain  how  it  is 
a  response  to  the  physical  and  economic  environ- 
ment. 

♦King,  C.  F. — This  Continent  of  Ours.    Lothrop. 
Latane,  J.  H. — America  as  a  World  Power.    Harper. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  213 

♦Monroe  and  Buckbee. — Our  Country  and  Its  People. 
Harper.  Simply  written,  giving  the  essential  facts 
of  the  industries  of  this  country  as  related  to  its 
outstanding  physical  features. 
♦Price,  0.  W. — The  Land  We  Live  In.  Small,  Forest, 
mineral,  and  water  resources  of  the  United  States. 
Shows  why  conservation  is  necessary. 

Russell,  I.  C. — North  America.    Appleton. 

Semple,  E.  C. — American  History  and  Its  Geographic 
Conditions.  Houghton.  Traces  the  influences  of 
geographic  conditions  in  settlements  and  success  in 
overcoming  obstacles. 

Shaler,  N.  S. — Nature  and  Man  in  America.  Ginn. 
Designed  for  beginners  in  geology.  Has  direct  bear- 
ing upon  the  relation  of  man  and  environment. 

Shaler,  N.  S. — The  Story  of  Our  Continent.  Ginn. 
Simple  account  of  the  geological  development  of  the 
continent  and  its  influence  on  history. 

Smith,  J.  R. — Commerce  and  Industry.    Holt. 

Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vols. 
12,  13.    The  United  States. 

Govermnent 

The  SJiip  of  State  hy  Those  at  the  Helm.  Ginn.  Descrip- 
tions of  the  departments  of  the  national  govern- 
ment by  prominent  men. 

♦Austin,  0.  P. — Uncle  Sam's  Secrets.  Appleton.  In 
story  form. 

♦Beard,  C.  A.  and  M.  R. — American  Citizenship.  Mae- 
millan. 

♦Du  PuY,  W.  A. — Uncle  Sam,  Wonder  Worker.  Stokes. 
Account  of  the  odd  activities  of  the  government 
bureaus. 

♦Du  PuY,  W.  A. — Uncle  Sam's  Modern  Miracles.  Stokes. 
Account  of  national  departments  dealing  with 
roads,  census,  immigration,  wealth,  etc. 

♦Franc,  A. — Use  Your  Government.  Dutton.  Stresses 
what  the  government  does  for  various  classes  of 
people — farmers,  settlers,  immigrants,  etc. 


214  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Hart,  A.  B. — Actual  Government.    Longmans. 
♦Marriott,  C. — Uncle  Sanies  Business.    Harper. 
Tufts,  J.  H. — Our  Democracy.    Holt. 

History 

European  Background 

*Atkinson,  a.  M. — European  Beginnings  of  American 
History.     Ginn. 
Cheney,  E.  P. — European  Background  of  American 
History.    Harper. 
*Hall,  J. — Our  Ancestors  in  Europe.   Silver,  Burdette. 
*NiDA,  W. — Dawn  of  American  History  in  Europe,    Mac- 
millan.  , 

Indians 

*Chase,  a. — Children  of  the  Wigwam.  Educational 
Pub.  Co.  Eeading  book  for  children,  showing  child- 
life  among  the  Indians.  Illustrated. 
Curtis,  N. — The  Indians'  Book.  Harper.  Written  by 
the  Indians  and  recorded,  edited,  and  arranged  by 
Miss  Curtis.  Songs  and  music. 
♦Eastman,  C.  A. — Wigwam  Evendngs.     Little,  Brown. 

Sioux  folk  tales  retold  by  an  Indian. 
♦Eastman,  C.  A. — Indian  Child  Life.     Little,  Brown. 

Real  Indian  stories  told  by  a  real  Indian. 
♦Eastman,  C.  A. — Indian  Boyhood.    Doubleday,  Page. 
An  account  of  Indian  boy-life  told  by  an  Indian. 
Training,  games,  and  sports,  playmates,  etc. 
Fletcher,   A. — Indian  Story  and  Song   from  North 
America.     Small,  Maynard.     Songs,  gathered  di- 
rectly from  the  Indians,  given  in  connection  with 
the  story  or  ceremony  with  which  it  has  association. 
Fletcher,  C.  A. — Indian  Games  and  Dances  with  Native 
Songs.     Birchard.     Arranged  from  American  In- 
dian ceremonials  and  sports,  so  that  young  people 
can  take  part  in  them.    Music  and  setting  given. 
Gk)DDARD,  P.  E. — Indiana  of  the  Southwest.    American 
Museum   of   Natural   History.     Handbook   Series 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  215 

No.  2.    Takes  up  remains  of  the  Cliff  Dwellers,  and 
account  of  the  Modern  Pueblos. 

Geinnell,  G.  B. — Blackfeet  Indian  Stories,  Scribner. 
Folk-lore  of  the  Blackfeet  Indians. 

Grinnell,  G.  B. — Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales.  Scribner. 
Indian  stories,  also  much  information  as  to  Indian 
character,  social  organization,  etc. 

Geinnell,  G.  B. — The  Story  of  the  Indian.  Appleton. 
Suitable  for  older  children.  Contents :  home,  recre- 
ations, implements  and  industries,  etc. 
•Humphrey,  M.  S.  (Editor). — The  Boy's  Catlin.  Scrib- 
ner. Rewritten  from  the  larger  work  of  Catlin. 
Account  of  religious  ceremonies,  corn-dance,  buffalo- 
dance,  lassoing  wild  horses,  etc. 

James,  G.  W. — Indian  Basketry.  Radiant  Life  Press.' 
Very  full  account  describing  methods  of  making 
baskets,  materials  used,  weaves,  forms  and  designs, 
their  relation  to  art,  symbolism  and  ceremonial. 
Fully  illustrated. 

James,  G.  W. — Indian  Blankets  and  tJieir  Makers.  Mc- 
Clurg.  Very  full  account  of  blankets  and  blanket 
weaving,  designs,  symbolism,  ceremonials,  etc. 
Fully  illustrated. 

•Jenks,  a.  E. — The  Childhood  of  Ji-Shih,  the  Ojihwa. 
Atkinson.  In  the  introduction,  W.  T.  McGee  says 
of  the  author:  "He  displays  deep  insight  into  In- 
dian character  and  describes  the  Red  Child  as  that 
person  might  have  described  himself  in  his  own 
wigwam  to  his  own  grandchildren  in  the  evening 
of  his  life." 

Mason,  0.  T. — Aboriginal  American  Basketry.  U.  S. 
National  Museum  Report,  1902.  Exhaustive  treat- 
ment with  many  illustrations. 

Morgan,  L.  H. — Houses  and  House  Life  of  the  American 
Indians.  Contributions  to  North  American  Eth- 
nology, Vol.  IV.  Gives  various  details  about  the 
type  of  house  and  social  customs.    Illustrated. 

•Snedden,  G.  S. — Docas  the  Indian  Boy  of  Santa  Clara* 
Heath.    Excellent  story  of  primitive  Indian  life. 


216  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

♦Starr,  F. — American  Itidians.  Heath.  Reader  for 
children.  Account  of  Indian  life  and  customs  from 
authoritative  sources.  Contents:  house,  dress,  sign 
language,  picture  writing,  dances  and  ceremonials, 
etc. 
WiSSLER,  C. — North  American  Indians  of  the  Plains. 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York. 
Handbook  Series  No.  1.  Takes  up  food,  clothing, 
shelter,  industrial  arts,  social  organization,  religion, 
etc. 
WissLER,  C. — The  American  Indian.  McMurtrie.  A 
general  summary.  Contents:  Domestication  of 
animals,  methods  of  transportation,  the  textile  arts, 
the  ceramic  arts,  decorative  designs,  architecture, 
special  inventions,  literature,  music,  social  groups, 
mjthology,  etc. 

Discovery  and  Exploration     ' 

Bourne,  E.  G. — SpoAn  in  America.    Harper. 

Dickson,  M.  S. — From  the  Old  World  to  the  New.  Mac- 
millan. 

Dickson,  M.  S. — Pioneers  and  Patriots  in  Early  Ameri- 
can History.    Macmillan. 

FiSKE,  J. — Discovery  of  America.  Houghton.  Ancient 
America,  Pre-Columbian  Voyages,  Search  for  the 
Indians,  etc. 

FiSKE,  J. — New  France  and  New  England.    Houghton. 

Griffis,  W.  E. — The  Romance  of  Discovery.  Wilde, 
Discovery  and  exploration  of  America  treated  not 
as  unconnected  episodes,  but  as  links  in  a  chain  of 
events  and  as  one  of  the  many  phases  in  the  ever 
continuous  movements  of  the  Aryan  race. 
•McMuRRY,  Charles. — Pioneers  of  Land  and  Sea,.  Mac- 
millan.   Accounts  of  early  explorers. 

Parkman,  Francis. — Montcalm  and  Wolfe.  Little, 
Brown. 

Parkman,  Francis. — La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the 
Great  West.    Little,  Brown. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  217 

*Parkman,  Francis. — Rivals  for  America.    Compiled  by 
L.     Hasbrouck.     Little,  Brown.     Selections  from 
** France  and  England  in  America." 
Parkman,   Francis. — The  Struggle  for  a  Continent. 

Compiled  by  P.  Edgar.    Little,  Brown. 
♦Seelye,  Mrs.  B.  (Eggleston). — The  Story  of  Columbus, 

Appleton. 
Thwaites,  R.  G. — France  in  America.    Harper. 
Tyler,  L.  G. — England  in  America.    Harper. 

Colonies 

Bruce,  P.  A. — Economic  History  of  Virginia.  Mac- 
millan.  An  inquiry  into  the  material  conditions 
of  the  people  based  on  original  and  contemporaneous 
records. 

Bradford,  W. — History  of  Plymouth  Plantation.  Scrib- 

ner. 
♦Coffin,  C.  C. — Old  Times  in  the  Colonies.     Harper. 
Customs,  social  life. 

Cooke,  J.  E. — Stories  of  the  Old  Dominion  and  Vir- 
ginia.   American  Book  Co. 

Doyle,  J.  A. — English  Colonies  in  America.    Holt. 
*Drake,  S.  a. — Making  of  New  England.     Scribner. 
♦Drake,   S.  A. — Making  of  Virginia  and  the  Middle 
Colonies.    Scribner. 

Earle,  a.  M. — Customs  and  Fashions  in  Old  New  Eng- 
land. Scribner.  Domestic  service,  holidays,  sports, 
etc. 

Earle,  A.  M. — The  Sahhath  in  Puritan  New  England. 
Scribner.  The  New  England  meeting  house,  the 
old-fashioned  pews,  church  music,  observance  of  the 
day,  etc. 

Earle,  A.  M. — Colonial  Days  in  Old  New  York.  Scrib- 
ner. The  Life  of  a  day,  education  and  child  life, 
Dutch  town  homes,  farm  homes,  farm  houses,  holi- 
days, sports,  etc. 

Earle,  A.  M. — Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days.  Macmillan. 
Description  of  lighting,  serving  of  meals,  spinning, 
weaving.    Illustrated. 


218  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Earle,  a.  M. — Costume  of  Colonial  Times.    Scribner. 
Detailed  descriptions  of  various  articles  of  clothing, 
gathered  from  old  letters,  wills,  newspapers,  etc. 
Earle,  A.  M. — Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days.    Macmillan. 
School  books,  story  and  picture  books,  toys,  schools 
and  school  life. 
Earle,  A.  M. — Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days.     Mac- 
millan.   Old  Time  Taverns,  tavern  fare  and  tavern 
ways,  early  stage-coaches,  and  other  vehicles,  etc. 
FiSKE,  J. — The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America. 
Houghton. 

♦Oilman,  A. — The  Colonization  of  America.    Lothrop. 

♦Griffis,  W.  E. — Romance  of  American  Colonization. 
Wilde. 

•Hart,  A.  B. — Colonial  Children.  Macmillan.  Source 
reader.  Historical  sources  have  been  selected  and 
are  interesting  to  children  and  simple  enough  for 
them  to  understand. 

•Hawthorne,  Nathaniel. — Grandfather^ s  Chair.  Hough- 
ton.   True  stories  of  New  England  History. 

♦MacElroy,  M.  H. — Work  and  Play  in  Colonial  Days. 
Macmillan. 

♦PuMPHREY,  M.  B. — Pilgrim  Stories.    Rand  McNally. 

♦Smith,  H.  E. — Colonial  Days  and  Ways.    Century. 

♦Stone  and  Ficket. — Every  Day  Life  in  the  Colonies. 
Heath.  Pastimes,  observances  of  Sunday,  candle 
making,  letter  writing,  etc. 

•Tappan,     E.    M. — Letters    from    Colonial    Children. 
Houghton.    '*  Planned  to  give  an  idea  of  how  life 
in  some  of  the  representative  American  colonies 
might  have  seemed  to  children.'* 
Thwaites,  R.  G. — The  Coloyiies.    Longmans. 

♦Tiffany,  N.  M. — Pilgrims  and  Puritans.    Ginn. 

♦Tiffany,  N.  M. — From  Colony  to  Commonwealth.  Ginn. 
Weeden,  W.  B. — Economic  and  Social  History  of  New 
England.     Houghton.     Early  industries,  domestic 
life,  manners  and  customs,  travel,  roads,  etc. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  219 

National 

*Barber,  L.  L. — A  Nursery  History  of  the  United  States. 
Stokes. 

*Baldwin,  J. — Discovery  of  the  Old  Northwest  and  Its 
Settlement  hy  the  French,  American  Book  Co.  A 
series  of  connected  sketches.  Gives  the  atmosphere 
of  pioneer  settlements. 

^Beard  and  Bagley. — History  of  the  American  People. 
Macmillan.  A  new  school  text,  giving  more  atten- 
tion to  the  industrial  and  social  phases  of  our 
national  development  than  the  older  school 
books. 

^BOGART,  E.  L. — Economic  History  of  the  United  States. 
Longmans.  Traces  growth  of  industry,  agriculture, 
commerce,  population,  from  earliest  times  to  present 
day. 

*Brigham,  a.  p. — From  Trail  to  Railway.  Ginn.  An 
historical  account  of  the  great  transportation  lines 
which  cross  the  Appalachian  Mountains ;  shows  how 
surface  features  have  determined  routes  of  travel. 

*Catherwood,  M.  H. — Heroes  of  the  Middle  West.  Ginn. 
Charmingly  written  sketches. 
CoMAN,  K. — Economic  Beginnings  of  the  Far  West. 
Macmillan. 

*CoMAN,  K. — Industrial  History  of  the  United  States, 
Macmillan. 

*Drake,  S.  a. — The  Making  of  the  Great  West.    Scrib- 

ner. 
Dunbar,  S. — The  History  of  Travel  in  the  United  States. 
Bobbs,  Merrill.  Reference  books,  four  volumes, 
*' showing  the  development  of  travel  and  transporta- 
tion from  the  crude  methods  of  the  canoe  and  the 
dog-sled  to  the  highly  organized  railway  systems 
of  the  present,  together  with  a  narrative  of  the 
human  experiences  and  changing  social  conditions 
that  accompanied  the  enormous  conquest  of  the 
continent.  *' 
Eggleston,  E. — History  of  the  United  Staies  and  its 
People.    Appleton. 


220  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

♦Fairbanks,  H.  W.—The  Western  United  States.  Heath. 

Account  of  the  physical  conditions  of  the  Pacific 

States  and  effect  in  history. 
FiSKE,  J. — The  War  of  Independence.    Houghton. 
FiSKE,  J. — The  Critical  Period  in  American  History, 

1783-1789.    Houghton. 
*Hart,  a.  B. — Camps  and  Firesides  of  the  Revolution. 

Macmillan.     Source  reader.     A  clear  imaginative 

picture  of  the  people  and  time.    Emphasis  on  the 

social. 
Hart,    A.    B. — National    Ideals    Historically    Traced. 

Harper. 
Hart,  A.  B. — Social  and  Economic  Forces  in  American 

History.    Harper. 
Hitchcock,  R. — Louisiana  Purchase.    Ginn. 
JuDSON,  H.  P. — The  Growth  of  the  American  Nation. 
Laut,  a.  C. — Pathfinders  of  the  West.    Macmillan. 
*McMurry,  C.  a. — Pioneers  of  the  Mississippi  Valley, 

Macmillan. 
*McMuRRY,  C.  A. — Pioneers  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 

and  the  West.    Macmillan. 
Parkman,  F.—The  Oregon  Trail.  Little,  Brown.  Source 

book. 
Paxson,  F.  L. — The  Last  American  Frontier.     Mac- 
millan.   Accounts  of  the  opening  up  of  the  West. 

Contents :  The  Indian  Frontier,  the  Santa  Fe  Trail, 

the  Oregon  Trail,  California  and  the  Forty-Niners, 

Pike's  Peak  or  Bust,  etc. 
*EoosEVEL»T,  Theodore. — Winning  the  West. — ^Putnam. 

History  of  frontier  action,  treating  dramatic  and 

picturesque  aspects  of  expansion  across  the  AUe- 

ghanies. 
Sanpord,   a.   H. — The   Story   of  Agriculture   in   the 

United  States.    Heath.    The  more  important  facts 

of  our  agricultural  history  from  the  time  of  the 

Indians  to  the  present. 
Sparks,  E.  E. — United  States  of  America.     Putnam. 

Strong  on  economic  and  social  phases. 


BIBLIOGRA.PHY  OF  SOURCES  221 

Sparks,  E.  E. — The  Expansion  of  the  American  People. 
Scott  Foresman.  Development  social  and  territorial 
from  the  time  of  the  colonies  to  the  present  day. 

Tryon,  R.  M. — Household  Manufacturers  of  the  United 
States.  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Traces  de- 
velopment from  time  of  colonies  to  time  of  machine 
industry. 

Wright,  C.  D. — Industrial  Evolution  of  the  United 
States.  Chatauqua  Press.  Evolution  of  industry 
from  the  colonial  period  to  the  present,  the  labor 
movement,  influence  of  machinery  upon  labor. 

THE   STUDY   OF   OTHER  NATIONS 
General 

*Allen,  a.  E. — Children  of  the  Palm  Lands.  Educa- 
tional Pub.  Co.  Life  and  products  of  the  hot 
countries. 

•Andrews,  J. — Seven  Little  Sisters.  Ginn.  Short 
descriptions  of  the  lives  of  Eskimo,  desert,  moun- 
tain, Japanese  children. 

•Andrews,  J. — Each  and  All.  Ginn.  Stories  giving 
information  about  the  homes  and  customs  of  chil- 
dren of  various  nationalities. 

•Barnard,  H.  C. — How  Other  People  Live.  Macmillan. 
Pictures  (many  in  color)  and  descriptions. 

•Chance,  L.  M. — Little  Folks  of  Many  Lands.    Ginn. 

♦DuTTON,  M.  B. — In  Field  and  Pasture.    American  Book 
Co.    Short  Stories  of  child  life  in  simple  language ; 
the  Pueblo,  children  of  the  Nile  Valley,  the  Navajo 
boy,  children  of  Tibet,  Russia,  etc.    Illustrated. 
Lyde,  L.  W. — Man  in  Many  Lands.    Macmillan. 

•MiRiCK,  G.  A. — Home  Life  Around  the  World.  Hough- 
ton. Written  for  children  from  eight  to  ten  years 
of  age.  Geographical  situations  typical  in  climatic 
and  physiographic  conditions  and  in  natural  re- 
sources have  been  selected.  Illustrated  by  photo- 
graphs by  Burton'Holmes. 


222  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

♦O'Neill,  E.-^TJie  Story  of  tJie  World.  Putnam.  A 
simple  history  for  boys  and  girls.    Illustrated. 

♦Perdue,  H.  A. — Child  Life  in  Other  Lands.  Rand  Mc- 
Nally.  Short  stories  of  Indians,  Eskimos,  Norwe- 
gians, Dutch,  German,  Italian,  Greek,  Japanese, 
Chinese,  and  American  children.    Illustrated. 

•Shaw,  E.  R. — Big  People  and  Little  People  of  Other 
Lamds.  American  Book  Co.  Simple  descriptions 
of  people  of  India,  Japan,  Philippines,  Russia,  Hol- 
land, and  Arabia.    Illustrated. 

•Starr,  F. — Strange  Peoples.  Heath.  Reader  for  chil- 
dren. Short  accounts  of  lives  of  Mexicans,  Finns, 
Lapps,  Malays,  etc.,  from  authoritative  sources. 

•Taylor,  Bayard. — Boys  of  Other  Countries.  Putnam. 
Accounts  of  life  of  children  in  different  countries 
visited.    Illustrated. 

•TOLMAN,  S.  W. — Around  the  World,  Booh  II.  Silver. 
Stories  of  Russia,  India,  Egypt,  Scotland. 

North  America 
Alusha 

JuDSON,  K.  B. — Myths  and  Legends  of  Alaska.    Me- 

Clurg. 
MuiR,  J. — Travels  in  Alaska.    Houghton. 
•NixoN-RouLET,   M.    F. — Our  Little   Alaskan   Cousin. 
Page. 

Canada 
♦Bealby,  J.  T. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Canada.    Mac- 

millan. 
Bourinot,  J.  G. — The  Story  of  Canada.    Putnam. 
Burpee  and  Morgan. — Canadian  Life  in  Town  and 

Country.    Newnes,  London. 
*Coe,  F.  E. — Our  American  Neighbors.    Silver,  Burdette. 
•Home,  B. — Peeps  at  History — Canada.    Black. 
Laut,  a.  C. — Canada,  the  Empire  of  the  North.    Ginn. 
The  romantic  story  of  Canada's  growth  from  colony 
to  kingdom. 
Macmillan,  C. — Canadian  Wonder  Tales.    John  Lane. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  ns 

*McDoNALD,  AND  Dalrymple. — Betty  in  Cmada.    Little, 

Brown. 
*MacDonald,  E.  R. — Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin.    Page. 
*Marshall,  H.  E. — Canada's  Story.    'Stokes. 
Gates,  D.  W. — Canada  To-day  and  Yesterday.    Harrap. 

In  the  form  of  a  series  of  adventures  retold  from 

the  journals  of  pioneers,  explorers,  and  travelers. 
*Parkman,  F. — Rivals  for  America.    Little. 
*Plummer,  M.  W. — Roy  and  Ray  in  Canada.     Holt. 

**Well  told  and  full  of  information  historical  and 

geographical."    A.  L.  A. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 

II:  Canada.    History,  stories,  etc. 
*WiNSLOw,  I.  0. — Our  American  Neighbors.    Heath. 

Cuba 

*Fairpord,  F. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Cuba.  Macmillan. 
*Wade.  M.  H. — Our  Little  Cuban  Cousin.    Page. 

Eskimos 

Nansen,  F. — Eskimo  Life,  Longmans.  Appearance 
and  dress,  cookery,  winterhouses,  social  conditions, 
religious  ideas,  etc. 

*Peary,  R.  E. — Snowland  Folks.    Stokes. 

*Peary,  J. — Children  of  the  Arctic.  Stokes.  Suitable 
for  young  children.    Fully  illustrated. 

*Peary,  J. — The  Snow  Baby.    Stokes.    Suitable  for  use 

by  children.    Well  illustrated. 
Rink,   H.   J. — Tales  and   Traditions  of  the  Eskimo, 
Blackwood. 

*ScANDLiN,  C. — Hans  the  Eskimo.    Silver,  Burdette. 

*ScHWATKA,  F. — Children  of  the  Cold.  Educational 
Pub.  Co.  Description  of  Eskimo  children,  houses, 
playthings,  outdoor  sports,  Eskimo  candy,  amuse- 
ments, how  their  clothes  are  made,  etc.    Illustrated. 

*Smith,  M.  E. — Eskimo  Stories.  Rand  McNally.  De- 
scribes features  of  Eskimo  life — games,  home,  food, 
clothing,  etc.    Illustrated. 


224  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Stefansson,  J. — My  Life  with  the  Eskimo.  Macmillan. 
♦Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Eskimo  Cousin.    Page. 

Greenland 

Tappan,  E.  M.—The  WorWs  Story.    Houghton.    VoL 
8:  Greenland.    History,  life  of  the  People. 

Hawaii 

Alexander,  M.  C. — The  Story  of  Hawaii.    American 

Book  Co. 
*Keout,  M.  H. — Alice's  Visit  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
American  Book  Co.     Sim£)le  descriptions  and  pic- 
tures based  on  observations. 
•TwoMBLY,  H.  S. — Hawaii  and  Its  People.    Silver,  Bur- 

dette. 
•Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Hawaiian  Cousin.    Page. 

Iceland 

*Leith,  Mrs.  Disney. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Iceland, 
Macmillan. 
Tappan,  E.  U.—The  WorWs  Story.    Houghton.    VoL 
8,  Iceland.    Sagas,  life  of  the  people,  etc.    Accounts 
by  various  authors. 

Jamaica 
♦Henderson,  J. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Jamaica.  Mac- 
millan. 

Labrador 

♦Duncan,   N. — Adventures   of  Billy    Topsail.     Revell. 
Adventures  of  a  Labrador  fisherman's  son  and  his 
friends. 
Grenfell,  W.  T. — Tales  of  Labrador.    Houghton. 

Mexico 
♦Butler,  E.  C. — Our  Little  Mexican  Cousin.    Page. 
Eggleston  and  Seelye. — Montezuma  and  the  Conquest 

of  Mexico.    Dodd. 
Plandrau,  C.  M. — Viva  Mexico.    Appleton. 
♦Gaines,  R. — Lucita;  A  Child's  Story  of  Old  Mexico. 
Rand. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  225 

*6aines  and   Read. — The   Village   Shield — a  story  of 

Mexico.    Dutton. 
Hale,  S. — The  Story  of  Mexico.    Putnam. 
*McDonujD  and  Dalrymple. — Manuel  in  Mexico.  Little, 
Brown. 
Morris,  C. — The  Story  of  Mexico.    Winston.    Condition 
and  modes  of  life,  products  of  soil,  cities,  railroads, 
commercial  progress,  ancient  Mexico,  etc. 
*Plummer,   M.   W. — Roh    and  Ray   in  Mexico.    Holt. 
*'Well  told  and  full  of  information  historical  and 
geographical."    A.  L.  A. 
Spence,  L. — The  Myths  of  Mexico  and  Peru.    Stokes. 
Tappan,  E,  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton,  Vol.  II, 
Mexico. 
*WiNSi,-ow,  I.  0. — Our  American  Neighbors.    Heath. 

Newfoundland 
*Fairford,  F. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Newfoundland, 
Macmillan. 

Panama 
*PiKE,  H.  L.  M. — Our  Little  Panama  Cousin.    Page. 
*Browne,  E.  a. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Panama.  Mac- 
millan. 
Bishop,  J.  B. — Panama  Gateway.    Scribner. 
*Gause   and    Carr. — The    Story    of   Panama.      Silver, 
Burdette.    History  of  the  making  of  the  canal  and 
account  of  the  history  of  Panama. 

Philippine 

*BuRKS,  F.  W. — Barbara's  Philippine  Journey.    World 

Book  Co. 
*Knapp,   a. — The   Story   of   the   Philippines.     Silver, 

Burdette. 
Le  Roy,  J.  A. — Philippine  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

Putnam. 
*MacClintock,   S. — The  Philippines.     American  Book 
Co. 
McGoverney,  D.  0. — Stories  of  Long  Ago  in  the  Philip- 
pines.   World  Book  Co. 


226  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

♦Mitchell,  A.  F. — Paz  and  PaUo.     World  Book  Co. 

Stories  of  two  little  Filipinos. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  PJiilippine  Cousin.    Page. 

Porto  Rico 

*Seabury,  J.  B. — Porto  Rico,  the  Land  of  the  Rich  Port, 

Silver,  Burdette. 
♦Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Porto  Rica/n  Cousin.    Page. 

West  Indies 

Fiske,  a.  K.—The  Story  of  the  West  Indies.    Putnam. 
Ober,  F.  a. — The  Storied  West  Indies.    Appleton. 

South  America 

•Allen,  N.  B. — Geographical  and  Industrial  Studies, 

South  America.    Ginn. 
Babson,  R.  W. — The  Future  of  South  America.    Little. 

♦Bowman,  I. — South  America.  Rand  McNally.  Geo- 
graphic Reader. 

♦Browne,  E.  A. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands:  South  America, 
Macmillan. 

♦Carpenter,  F.  G. — Geographical  Reader:  South  Ameri- 
ica.    American  Book  Co. 

♦Chamberlain,  J.  F. — The  Continents  and  Their  People 

— South  America.    Macmillan. 
BuTTERWORTH,   H. — South  America.     Doubleday.     A 
popularly  illustrated  history  of  the  struggle  for 
liberty  in  the  Andean  Republics  and  Cuba. 
Dawson,  T.  C. — The  Story  of  the  South  American  Re- 
publics.   Putnam. 

♦FiGYELMESSY,  E.  H. — Two  Boys  in  the  Tropics.  Mac- 
millan. Life  of  a  family  in  South  America  by 
the  mother  of  the  boys. 

♦Herbertson,  a.  J. — Central  and  South  America,  Mac- 
millan. 

♦Markwick  and  Smith. — The  South  American  Repub- 
lics.   Silver,  Burdette. 

♦NixON-RouLET,  M.  F. — Our  Little  Brazilian  Cousin, 
Page. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  227 

Tappan,  E.  M..—The  WorWs  Story.    Houghton,  Vol.  2. 
South  America. 
*Wade,    M.    H. — Twin    Travellers   in   South   America, 
Stokes.     Trip  to  Brazil,  Argentine,  Bolivia,  etc., 
told  in  story  form. 

Europe 
General 
*Allen,  N.  B. — Geographical  and  Industrial  Studies — 

Europe.    Ginn. 
♦Carpenter,     F.     G. — Geographical     Reader — Europe. 

American  Book  Co. 
*Chamberlain,  J.  F. — The  Continents  and  Their  People 

— Europe.    Macmillan. 
*Herbertson,   a.   J. — Europe.     Macmillan.     Readahle 
selections  from  the  works  of  travellers  who  have 
visited  the  countries  and  recorded  their  observa- 
tions.   Illustrated. 
Huntington,   E. — The   Geography   of  Europe.     Yale 
University    Press.      A    study    of    the    physical 
geography  of  Europe  and  of  the  customs,  indus- 
tries, and  relationships  of  the  various  countries. 
Lyde,  L.  W. — The  Continent  of  Europe.    Macmillan. 

History 

Adams,  G.  B. — Civilization  During  the  Middle  Ages, 
Scribner. 

Ashley,  R.  L. — Modern  European  Civilization,    Mac- 
millan. 

Cunningham,  W. — Western  Civilization  in  Its  Economic 
Aspects.    Putnam. 

Emerton,  E. — Mediaeval  Europe.    Ginn. 

Emerton,  E. — Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Middle 
Ages.    Ginn.    One  of  the  best  brief  accounts  of  this 
period.    Of  special  value  to  beginners. 
*Harding,  S.  B. — Story  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Scott  Fores- 
man. 

Hazen,  C.  D. — Modern  European  History,    Holt. 


228  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Ogg,  F.  a. — A  Source  Book  of  Mediaeval  History. 
American  Book  Co. 

Ogg,  F.  a. — Economic  Development  of  Modern  Europe. 
Macmillan.  Provides  great  amount  of  material 
most  useful  to  teachers  who  are  aiming  to  give  more 
emphasis  to  the  industrial  and  social  side  of  history 
and  geography. 

Ogg,  F.  a. — Social  Progress  in  Contemporary  Europe. 
Macmillan. 

Robinson,  J.  H. — An  Introduction  to  the  History  of 
Western  Europe.    Ginn. 

Robinson  and  Breasted. — Outlines  of  European  His- 
tory.   Ginn. 
*RoBiNSON  AND  Beard. — The  Development  of  Modern 
Europe.    Ginn. 

Shapiro,  J.  S. — Modern  and  Contemporary  European 
History.    Houghton. 

Austria 

♦Mendel,  F;  E. — Our  Little  Austrian  Cousin.    Page. 
Palmer,  F.  H.  E. — Austro-Hungarian  Life  in  Town  and 

Country.    Putnam. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
6:  Austria-Hungary.    Folk-tales  and  legends — ^his- 
tory etc. — accounts  by  various  authors. 

Belgium 

Boulger,  D.  C. — Belgian  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 
Putnam.    Contents :  The  two  races  in  Belgium,  the 
court  and  society,  burger  life  in  Brussels,  the  com- 
mercial classes  in  Antwerp.     The  manufacturing 
centers,  country  life,  the  army  and  the  military 
life.    Illustrated. 
*de  Bosschere,  J. — Folk  Tales  of  Flanders.  Dodd,  Mead. 
*Cammaerts,  E.  and  T. — A  Boy  of  Bruges.    Dutton.    A 
story  of  Belgian  Child-Life  by  a  Belgian  poet. 
Griffis,    W.    E. — Belgium.      Houghton.      Its    history, 
legends,  industry  and  modern  expansion. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  229 

•JONCKHEERE,  R. — When  I  was  a  Boy  in  Belgium.    Loth- 
rop.     The  author  describes  Belgian  child  life  by 
giving  his  own  true  story. 
McManus,  B. — Our  Little  Belgian  Cousin.    Page. 

*Ormond,  G.  W.  T. — Peej^s  at  Many  Lands — Belgium. 
Macmillan. 

Bohemia 

*Bandis,  J. — Czech  Folk  Tales.    Allen  &  Unwin,  London. 

Maurice,  C.  E. — The  Story  of  Bohemia.    Putnam. 

Monroe,  W.  S. — Bohemia  and  the  Czechs.    Page. 
♦WiNSLOw,  C.  V. — Our  Little  Bohemian  Cousin.    Page. 

Bulgaria 

Monroe,  W.  S. — Bulgaria  and  Her  People.    Page. 
♦WiNSLOw,  C.  V. — Our  Little  Bulgarian  Cousin.    Page. 

Denmark 

*Bay,  J.  C. — Danish  Fairy  and  Folk  Tales.    Harper. 
Brochner,    J. — Danish   Life   in    Town   and   Country. 
Putnam.     Government  and  politics — church,  army 
and  navy — court  and  society,  art,  country  life,  etc. 
niustrated. 
♦Ennes,  L.  M. — Our  Little  Danish  Cousin.    Pa^e. 
Tappan,  E.  M. — The  World's  Story,  Vol.  8.    Houghton. 
Denmark:  Tales,  legends,  history,  etc.     Accounts 
by  various  authors. 
♦Thomson,   M.   P. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Denmark. 
Macmillan. 

England 

Cheyney,  E.  G. — An  Introduction  to  the  Industrial  and 

Social  History  of  England.    Macmillan. 
Coman  and  Kendall. — History  of  England.  Macmillan. 
Cunningham,  W.—The  Growth  of  English  Industry 
and  Commerce.    Cambridge  University  Press. 
*Finnimore,  J.— Peeps  at  Many  Lands — England.    Mac- 
millan. 


230  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

♦Freeman,  E.  A.— Old  English  History  for  CMldren, 

Macmillan. 
Green,  J,  R. — A  Short  History  of  the  English  People, 
American  Book  Co. 

*Harding,  S.  B.—The  Story  of  England.  Scott  Fores- 
man.  A  continuous  history  of  England's  develop- 
ment clearly  and  interestingly  told.    Illustrated. 

*Jacobs,  J. — English  Fairy  Tales.    Putnam. 

McManus,  B. — Our  Little  English  Cousin.    Page. 

♦Marshall,  H.  E. — An  Empire  Story.  Stokes.  **  Traces 
the  development  of  the  British  colonies.  Attractive 
make-up  and  treatment."    F.  J.  Olcott. 

♦Marshall,  H.  E. — An  Island  Story.  Stokes.  *'A 
child's  history  of  England.  The  biographical  side 
is  emphasized  and  the  treatment  is  romantic.  Large 
volume  with  colored  pictures.''    F.  J.  Olcott. 

♦O'Neill,  E. — A  Nursery  History  of  England.    Stokes. 
Story,  A.   T. — The  Building  of  the  British  Empire. 
Putnam.     The  Story  of  England's  Growth  from 
Elizabeth  to  Victoria. 
Tickner,  F.  W. — Social  and  Industrial  History  of  Eng- 
land.   Longmans. 
ToMLiNSON,  E.  T. — British  Isles.  Houghton.  Geography, 

industries,  cities,  schools,  people  and  customs. 
Traill   and   Mann. — Social   England.     Putnam.     A 
record  of  the  progress  of  the  people  in  religion, 
laws,  arts,  industry,  commerce,  science  and  manners 
from  the  earliest  time  to  the  pBesent  day. 

Finland 
♦Baldwin,  J. — The  Sampo.    Scribner.    The  great  Fin- 
nish Epic. 
Reade,  a. — Finland  and  the  Finns.    Dodd,  Mead. 
♦Thomson,    M.    P. — Peeps   at   Man/y   Lands — Finland. 

Macmillan. 
♦Winslow,  C.  V. — Our  Little  Finnish  Cousin.    Page. 

France 
♦Bonner,  J. — A  Child^s  History  of  France.    Harper. 
Cooke,  A.  0. — Stories  of  France  in  Days  of  Old.  Stores. 


BIBIJOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  231 

♦Button,  M.  B. — Little  Stories  of  France.     American 
Book  Co.    A  cheap  but  excellent  text-book  volume 
of  French  history. 
Edwards,  M.  B.  B. — Home  Life  in  France.    McClurg. 
♦FiNNEMORE,  J. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — France.    Mac- 
millan. 
Hassall,  a. — The  French  People.    Appleton. 
Lynch,  L.  B. — French  Life  in  Town  and  Country.  Put- 
nam. 
McManus,  B. — Our  Little  French  Cousin.    Page. 
*McDoNALD  AND  Dalrymple. — Colcttc  in  France.  Little, 

Brown. 
♦McGregor,  M. — The  Story  of  France  told  to  Boys  and 

Girls.    Stokes. 
Pitman,  L.  W. — Stories  of  Old  Framce.   American  Book 

Co. 
♦Porter,  L.  S. — Genevieve.    Button. 
♦QuiLLER-CoucH,    A.    T.    (Rctold   by). — The    Sleeping 
Beauty  and  Other  Fairy  Tales  from  the  old  French, 
Boran. 
♦LuGARD,  F.  L. — Hector.    Little,  Brown. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
5:  France.     History,  etc.     Accounts  by  various 
authors. 

Germany 

Baring-Gould  and  Gilman. — The  Story  of  Germany, 

Putnam. 
Bawson,  W.  H. — German  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

Putnam. 
♦Button,  M.  B. — Little  Stories  of  Germamy.    American 
Book  Co.  Separate  stories  arranged  so  as  to  form  a 
connected  account  of  the  history  of  Germany  begin- 
ning with  the  mythological  heroes  and  extending  to 
the  present  day. 
♦Marshall,  H.  E. — History  of  Germany.    Stokes. 
♦McBoNALD  AND  Balrymple. — Fritz  in  Germany.  Little, 
Brown. 


232  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

*MuLLER,  M. — Elshethf  A  Story  of  German  Home  Life. 

Dutton. 
SiDGWiCK,    C. — Home   Life   in   Germany.     Macmillan. 
Housewives,   servants,   food,   shops,   and   markets, 
sports  and  games,  peasant  life,  etc. 

*SiDGwiCK,  C. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Germany.    Mac- 
millan. 
Tappan,  E.  M.— TTie  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
7:  Germany.     History,  etc.     Accounts  by  various 
authors. 

•Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  German  Cousin.    Page. 

Greece 

*Best,  S.  M. — Greece  and  Rome.    Macmillan. 

*BoNNER,  J. — A  Child's  History  of  Greece.    Harper. 

*Browne,  E.  a. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Greece.    Mac- 
millan. 

•Buckley,  E.  F. — Children  of  the  Dawn.    Stokes.    Old 

Tales  of  Greece. 
Bury,  J.  B.-r-History  of  Greece.    Macmillan. 
BLiJMNER,  H. — Home  Life  of  the  Ancient  Greeks.  Funk. 

•CowLES,  J.  D. — Our  Little  Spartan  Cousin  of  Long  Ago. 
Page. 

•Cow^LES,  J.  D. — Our  Little  Athenian  Cousin  of  Long 

Ago.    Page. 
Davis,  W.  S.—A  Day  in  Old  Athens.    AUyn.    A  pic- 
ture of  Athenian  life. 

•Demetrios,  G. — When  I  was  a  Boy  in  Greece.    Lothrop. 
Written  from  an  account  given  by  a  Greek  boy. 

•Dragoumis,  J.  D. — Under  Greek  Skies.  Dutton.  Stories 
of  life  of  Greek  children  of  to-day. 

•GuERBER,  H.  A. — Story  of  the  Greeks.    American  Book 

Co. 
GuLiCK,  C.  B. — The  Life  of  the  Ancient  Greeks.    Apple- 
ton.    Aims  to  give  the  essential  facts  of  the  daily 
life  of  the  Greeks.     Takes  up  houses,  home  life, 
articles  of  food,  clothing,  social  life,  travel,  etc. 
Harrison,  J.  A.--The  Story  of  Greece.    Putnam. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  233 

♦Lee,  J.  B. — Mr.  Achilles.    Dodd,  Mead.    The  story  of 
the  friendship  between  a  little  girl  who  loves  Greece 
and  a  Greek  fruit-seller.    Full  of  the  brotherhood 
of  races. 
MAHiVFFY,  J.  P. — Social  Life  in  Greece.    Macmillan. 
Mahaffy,  J.  P. — Old  Greek  Life.    American  Book  Co. 
Moore,  M. — Days  in  Hellas.    Jacobs. 
*NixoN-RouLET,    M.    F. — Our   Little    Grecian    Cousin, 

Page. 
♦Tappan,  E.  M. — Story  of  the  Greek  People.    Houghton. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
4:  Greece. 

Holland 

*DoDGE,  M.  M. — Hans  Brinker  and  the  Silver  Skates 
(Numerous  Editions).  Aims  to  give  just  ideas  of 
of  Holland,  its  resources  and  every  day  life  of  the 
people.  Based  on  writers  of  Dutch  history,  litera- 
ture and  art. 

•Dodge,  M.  M. — The  Land  of  Pluck.  Century.  Descrip- 
tion of  Holland  and  its  people,  and  stories. 

♦Griffis,  W.  E. — Brave  Little  Holland.  Houghton.  A 
bird's  eye  view.  How  a  Dam  Became  a  City.  Writ- 
ten in  simple  form. 

♦Griffis,  W.  E. — Dutch  Fadry  Tales.    Crowell. 

♦Griffis,  "W.  E. — Young  People's  History  of  Holland, 
Houghton.  From  early  times  to  the  present  cen- 
tury.    Illustrated. 

*Groot,  C.  de. — When  I  was  a  Girl  in  Holland.  Lothrop. 
Hough,  P.  M. — Dutch  Life  in  Town  and  Country.  Put- 
nam. Material  characteristics,  court  and  society, 
workmen  of  the  towns,  peasant  life,  amusements, 
arts,  religion,  etc.    Illustrated. 

•JuNGMAN,  B. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Holland.  Mac- 
millan. 

McManus,  B. — Our  Little  Dtuch  Cousin.    Page. 

•McDonald  and  Dalrymple. — Marta  in  Holland.  Little, 
Brown. 


234  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Meldrum,  D.  S. — Home  Life  in  Holland.  Macmillan. 
Dutch  interiors,  the  country  and  the  home. 

Rogers,  J.  E.  T.—The  Story  of  Holland.     Putnam. 

History  from  early  days  to  modem  times. 
♦Smith,  M.  E.  J. — Holland  Stones.    Band  McNally. 

Tappan,  E.  M.—TJie  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vol. 
7:  The  Netherlands.  History,  social  life  and  cus- 
toms-accounts by  various  authors. 

Hungary 

*KovER,  H.  T.  DE. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Hungary. 

Macmillan. 
•NixoN-RouLET,  M.  F. — Our  Little  Hungarian  Cousin. 

Page. 
*PoGANY,  N. — The  Hungarian  Fairy  Booh.     Stokes. 
Vauberg,  a. — The  Story  of  Hungary.    Putnam. 

Ireland 
*CoLUM,  P. — A  Boy  in  Erin.    Dutton.     Irish  Country 

life,  folk  lore  and  hero  stories. 
*CuRTiN,  J. — Myths  and  Folk-Lore  of  Ireland.     Little, 

Brown. 
Dease,  a. — Mother  Erin.    Sands.    Her  ancient  history, 
some  of  her  cities,  some  of  her  legends  and  tradi- 
tions, customs  and  superstitions,  games,  etc. 
*Home,  B. — Ireland.    Black. 

Johnson,  C. — The  Isle  of  the  Shamrock.    Macmillan. 
♦Joyce,  P.  "W. — A  Child's  History  of  Ireland.     Long- 
mans. Literature,  art,  music,  dwellings,  food,  dress, 
family  life,  legends,  political  history. 
♦Joyce,  P.  W. — A  Reading  Book  in  Irish  History.    Long- 
mans. 
Lawless,  E. — The  Story  of  Ireland.    Putnam. 
♦McDonald  and  Dalrymple. — Kathleen  in  Ireland.  Lit- 
tle, Brown. 
Tappan,  E.  M. — The  World's  History.    Houghton.    Vol. 
10 :  Ireland.    History,  life  of  the  people.    Accounts 
of  various  authors. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  235 

*HiNKSON,  K.  T. — Peeps  at  Mawy  Lands — Iceland.    Mac- 

millan. 
*Wade,  M.  H.  B. — Our  Little  Irish  Cousin.    Page. 
*Yeats,  W.  B. — Irish  Fairy  Tales.    Burt. 

Italy 

*Ambrosi,  M. — When  I  Was  a  Girl  in  Italy.    Lothrop. 
' '  Marietta  Ambrosi  tells  of  her  home  life,  play- 
mates, games,  work.''    F.  J.  Olcott. 
*Basile,  G. — Stories  from  the  Pentamerone.    Macmillan. 

Folk  tales  of  old  Italy. 
Bury,  J.  B. — History  of  the  Roman  Empire.    American 

Book  Co. 
Church,  A.  J. — Roman  Life  in  the  Days  of  Cicero. 
Macmillan. 
*CoLLODi,  C. — Pinnochio.    (Many  editions.) 
Duff-Gordon,  L. — Home  Life  in  Italy.    Macmillan. 
*FmNEMORE,  J. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands. — Italy.     Mac- 
millan. 
Fowler,  W.  W. — Social  Life  of  Rome.     Chatauqua 
Home  Reading   Circle.     Home  life,   holidays,   re- 
ligion, etc. 
GiLMAN,  A. — The  Story  of  Rome.    Putnam. 
*GuERBER,  H.  A. — Story  of  the  Romans.    American  Book 

Co. 
*Harding,  C.  H.  and  S.  B. — The  City  of  the  Seven  Hills. 

Scott  Foresman. 
Johnson,  H.  W. — The  Private  Life  of  the  Romans. 
Scott  Foresman.  The  family,  the  name,  house  and 
its  furniture,  dress,  food  and  meals,  amusements 
baths,  travel,  sources  of  income,  the  Roman  day,  etc. 
*McDoNALD  AND  Dalrymple. — Rafael  in  Italy.    Little, 

Brown. 
Miller,  W. — The  Story  of  Mediaeval  Rome.    Putnam. 
Orsi,  p. — The  Story  of  Modern  Italy.    Putnam. 
Sedgwick,  H.  D. — A  Short  History  of  Italy.    Houghton. 
*Tappan,  E.  M. — Story  of  the  Roman  People.    Houghton. 


236  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Tappan,  E.  M.—Tlie  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vol. 
5:  Italy.  History,  literature,  art — accounts  by 
various  authors. 

ViLLARi,  L. — Italian  Life  in  Town  and  Country.  Put- 
nam. Division  of  the  population,  questions  of 
wealth  and  poverty,  home  life,  political  life,  re- 
ligious life  and  thought.  Agricultural  population, 
amusements,  literature. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Italian  Cousin.    Page. 

Norway 

*Aanrud,  H. — Lisheth  Long  frock.  Ginn.  Story  of  a 
Norwegian  girl. 

*ASBJ0RNSEN,  P.  C. — Fairy  Tales  from  the  Far  North. 

Burt. 
BoYESEN,  H.  H. — The  Story  of  Norway.    Putnam.    His- 
tory from  the  time  of  Norsemen  to  modern  times. 

♦BoYESEN,    H.    H. — Boyhood    in    Norway.      Scribner. 

Stories  of  boy-life  in  the  land  of  Midnight  Sun. 
Daniels,  H.  K. — Home  Life  in  Norway.     Macmillan. 
Children  and  education,  food,  women,  homes.  Illus- 
trated. 

*Dasent,  G.  W. — East  o'  the  Sun  and  West  o'  the  Moon. 

Putnam. 
Du    Chaillu,    p. — The   Land   of   the   Midnight   Sun. 
Harper.    Wealth  of  material  on  all  sorts  of  details 
of  life  and  scenery. 

♦Ferryman,  A.  F.  M. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Norway. 
Macmillan. 

*Hall,  J. — Viking  Tales.    Rand  McNally. 

*Martineau,  H. — Feats  on  the  Fjords.  Dutton.  ''The 
author  brings  home  to  the  youthful  mind  the 
wonders  of  the  northern  latitudes.  The  book  opens 
with  the  long  nights  and  ends  with  the  long  days. 
The  midnight  sun  and  the  northern  lights  play 
their  parts,  whilst  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  farm 
life  in  the  Arctic  Circle  is  unfolded  with  authorita- 
tive interest." 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  237 

Tappan,  E.  M.—TJie  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vol. 
8:  Norway.  Mythology,  folk-lore,  social  life.  Ac- 
counts of  various  authors. 

*"Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Norwegian  Cousin.    Page. 

*  Walter,  L.  E. — Norse  and  Lapp.  Black.  A  Norwegian 
winter,  winter  life  in  the  country,  summer  life  in 
the  country,  and  on  the  fringe  of  the  Arctic.  The 
wandering  Lapps,  etc. 

*ZwiLGMEYER,  D. — Johuuif  Blossom  (from  the  Norwegian 
by  E.  Poulsson).  Pilgrim  Press.  Every  day  life 
of  a  Norwegian  boy. 

*ZvnLGMEYER,  D. — What  Happened  to  Inger  JoJianne 
(from  the  Norwegian  by  E.  Poulsson).  Lothrop. 
Every-day  life  of  a  Norwegian  girl. 


Toland 
*Gardner,  M.  M. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Poland.    Mac- 

millan. 
*Mendel,  F.  E. — Our  Little  Polish  Cousin.    Page. 
MoRFiLL,  W.  R. — Story  of  Poland.    Putnam.     Country 
and  people,  sagas,  the  Poles  as  subjects  of  Russia, 
Austria  and  Prussia;  politics,  social  conditions. 


Portugal 

*GooDALL,    A.    M. — Peeps   at    Many    Lands— Portugal. 
Macmillan. 
Higgin,    L. — Portugese   Life   in    Town   and   Country. 
Putnam.    Land,  people,  institutions. 
*Sa.wyer,  E.  a. — Our  Little  Portugese  Cousin.    Page. 
Stephens,  H.  M. — The  Story  of  Portugal.     Putnam. 

Historical. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
5:  Portugal. 


Roumania 

KiRKE,  D. — Domestic  Life  in  Roumania.    John  Lane. 


238  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

*Teslaer,  J.   V. — When  I  Was  a  Boy  in  Boumania. 

Lothrop. 
*WiNSLOw,  C.  V. — Our  Little  Roumanian  Cousin.    Page. 

Russia 

*CuRTAiN,  J. — MytJis  and  Folk-Tales  of  the  Russians, 
Western  Slavs,  and  Magyars.    Little,  Brown. 

*Haskell,  H.  E. — Katrinka — the  Story  of  a  Russian 
Child.     Button. 

^McDonald  and  Dalrymple. — Boris  in  Russia.  Little, 
Brown. 

*MoKRiEviTCH,  V. — When  I  was  a  Boy  in  Russia.    Loth- 

rop. 
MoRFiLL,  W.  R. — The  Story  of  Russia.  Putnam. 
Palmer,  F.  H.  E. — Russian  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 
Putnam.  The  landed  proprietor,  the  peasant  in 
serfdom,  peasant  characteristics,  rural  self-govern- 
ment, life  on  a  large  estate,  a  country  town,  Jewish 
life,  life  in  winter,  Industrial  Co-operative  Associa- 
tion. 

*PosTNiKOV,  F.  A. — Our  Little  Cossack  Cousin.    Page. 

*Ransome,  a. — Old  Peter's  Russian  Tales.  Stokes. 
Rappoport,  a.  S. — Home  Life  in  Russia.  Macmillan. 
Villages,  peasants,  family  life,  marriage  ceremonies, 
religious  life,  education. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vol. 
6:  Russia.  Folk-tales,  history,  etc. — accounts  by 
various  authors. 

*Van  Bergen,  R. — Story  of  Russia.    American  Book  Co. 

*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Russian  Cousin.    Page. 

♦Walter,  L.  E. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Russia.  Mac- 
millan. 

•Wheeler,  P. — Russian  Wander  Tales.    Century. 

Scotland. 

♦Black,  W. — The  Four  Macnicols.  Harper.  Boy  life 
on  the  coast  of  Scotland. 

♦Grierson,  E. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Scotland.  Mac- 
millan. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  239 

*Green,  E.  M. — Tlie  Laird  of  Glentyre.    Button. 
Johnson-,  C. — The  Land  of  Heather.  Macmillan.  Rural. 

and  village  manners;  life  and  customs. 
Mackintosh,  J. — The  Story  of  Scotland.    Putnam. 
McManus,  B. — Our  Little  Scotch  Cousin.    Page. 
*Marshall,  H.  E. — Scotland's  Story.    Stokes. 
*McDoNALD  AND  Dalrymple. — Douold  in  Scotland.  Lit- 
tle, Brown. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
10.    Scotland.    Ballads,  legends,  history-r-accounts 
by  various  authors. 


Servia 
*MiJATOViCH,    E. — Serhian   Fadry    Tules.     Robert   Mc- 

Bride. 
*Petrovic,  M. — Hero  Tales  and  Legends  of  the  Serbians, 

Harrap. 
♦Winslow,  C.  V. — Our  Little  Servian  Cousin.    Page. 


Spain 

*Bates,  K.  L. — In  Sunny  Spain.    Dutton. 
*Bonner,  J. — A  Child's  History  of  Spain.    Harper. 
*Browne,  E.  a. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Spain.    Mac- 
millan. 
Hale,  E.  E. — The  Story  of  Spain.    Putnam. 
HiGGiN,  L. — Spanish  Life  in  Town  and  Country.    Put- 
nam.    Land  and  people,  types  and  traits,  amuse- 
ments,   religion,    education,    arts,   commerce,    and 
agriculture. 
Hume,  M.  A.  S. — The  Story  of  Modern  Spadn.    Putnam. 
*McDoNALD  AND  Dalrymple. — Joscfa  in  Spain.    Little, 

Brown. 
*Nixon-Roulet,    M.    F. — Our   Little   Spanish   Cousin. 

Page. 
♦Segovia,  G. — The  Spanish  Fairy  Book.    Stokes. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
5:  Spain. 


240  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Sweden 
♦CoBURN,  C.  M. — Our  Little  Swedish  Cousin,    Page. 
Heiden,  0.  G.  Von. — Swedish  Life  in  Town  and  Coun- 
try.   Putnam. 
♦LiDDLE,  W. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Sweden.     Mac- 

millan. 
♦McDonald  and  DalrympliE. — Gerda  in  Sweden.    Little, 

Brown. 
•Nyblom,   H. — Jolly   Calle  and  Other  Swedish  Fairy 
Tales.    Dutton. 
Stefansson,  J. — Denmark  and  Sweden  with  Iceland  and 

Finland.    Putnam. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
8 :  Sweden.    History,  folk-lore.  Accounts  by  various 
authors. 

Switzerland 
*FiNNEMORE,  J. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Switzerland. 

Macmillan. 
♦Froelicher,    F. — Swiss   Stories   and  Legends.     Mac- 
millan. 
*GuERBER,  H.  A. — Legends  of  Switzerland.  Dodd,  Mead. 
Hug  and  Stead. — The  Story  of  Switzerland.    Putnam. 
*Spyri,  J. — Eeidi.    (Many  editions.) 
Story,  A.  T. — Swiss  Life  in  Town  and  Country.    Put- 
nam.    Switzerland   and  the   Swiss  struggle  with 
nature,  education,  industry,  life  and  work  in  the 
Alps;  Swiss  women  and  homes;  children,  working- 
men's  society  and  co-operation;  fetes  and  festivals, 
etc.    Illustrated. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
7:  Switzerland — History  and  social  life — accounts 
by  various  authors. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Swiss  Cousin.   Page. 

Turkey 

Garnett,  L.  M.  J. — The  Women  of  Turkey  and  Their 
Folk-Lore,    David  Nutt. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  241 

Garnett,  L.  M.  J. — Home  Life  in  Turkey.    Macmillan. 

Social  life,  religious  beliefs,  institutions,  domestic 

life. 
Garnett,  L.  M.  J. — Turkish  Life  in  Town  and  Country, 

Putnam.     Inhabitants  and  institutions,  dwellings, 

home  life,  religion,  education,  etc. 
Lane-Poole,  S. — The  Story  of  Turkey.    Putnam. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 

6:  Turkey.     History,  Social  life,  stories,  etc.  ac- 
counts by  various  authors. 
*Van  Millingen,  J.  R. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Turkey, 

Macmillan. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Turkish  Cousin.    Page. 

Wales 
*Edward,  0.  M. — The  Story  of  Wales.    Putnam. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
10:  Wales.  Legends,  life,  etc. 
*Wilmot-Buxton,  E.  M. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Wales, 
Macmillan. 

Asia 
General 

*  Allen,  N.  B. — Geographical  and  Industrial  Studies — 

Asia.    Ginn. 

*Carpenter,  F.  G. — Geographical  Reader — Asia.  Ameri- 
can Book  Co. 

*Chamberlain,  J.  F. — The  Continents  and  Their  People 
— Asia.    Macmillan. 
CoBBOLD,  R.  P. — Innermost  Asia.    Scribner. 

*Herbertson,  a.  J. — Asia.    Macmillan. 

*  Huntington,  B.     Asia.     Rand  McNally.     Geographic 

Reader. 
*Miller,  H. — Little  People  of  Asia.     Button.     Short 

accounts    of    Turkish,    Persian,    Hindu,    Siamese 

babies.    Illustrated. 
*Redway,  J.  W. — All  Around  Asia.    Scribner. 
*Smith,  M.  C. — Life  in  Asia.    Silver. 
*WiNSL0w,  I.  0. — Distant  Countries.    Heath. 


242  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Afghanistan 

Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story,     Houghton.    VoL 

2.  Afghanistan. 
Aralia 

^Mansfield,  B. — Our  Little  Arabian  Cousin.    Page. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—TJie  World's  Story.     Houghton.    Vol. 

3.  Arabia. 

Armenia 

^Schnapps,  C.  H. — ArcJiag,  the  Little  Armenian.  Button. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Arntenian  Cousin.    Page. 

Assyria 

*Baikie,  J. — Peeps  at  3Iany  Lands — Ancient  Assyria. 
Macmillan. 
Ragozin,  Z.  a. — Story  of  Assyria.    Putnam. 

Burmu 

*Kelly,  R.  T. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Burma.     Mac- 
millan. 
Ceylon 

*Clark,  a. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Ceylon.  Macmillan. 

China 

Bard,  E. — Chinese  Life  in  Town  and  Country.  Putnam. 
*Bryson,  M.  I. — Child  Life  in  Chinese  Homes.  American 
Book  Co.     Chinese  baby,  home  and  friends,  school 
and  play  festivals,  and  holidays.     Illustrated. 
•Davis,  M.  H.  and  Chow-Leung. — Chinese  Fables  and 
Folk  Stories.    American  Book  Co. 
Douglas,  R.  K. — The  Story  of  China.    Putnam. 
Griffis,  W.  E. — China's  Story.    Houghton. 
♦Headland,  I.  T. — Our  Little  Chinese  Cousin.    Page. 
♦Headland,  I.  T. — The  Chinese  Boy  and  Girl.    Revell. 
Contents :  nursery  and  its  rhymes,  child-life,  games, 
toys,  stories  told  children.    Illustrated. 
HOLCOLMB,  C. — The  Real  Chinaman.  Dodd,  Mead.  Gov- 
ernment, home  life,  social  life,  language,  religion, 
superstitions,  etiquette,  etc. 


J 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  24S 

*JoHNSTON,  L.  E. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — CJiina.    Mac- 
millan. 

*Lee,  Yan  Phou. — When  I  was  a  Boy  in  China.  Lothrop. 
Written  by  a  Chinese  boy. 

*PiTMAN,  N.  H. — Chinese  Fairy  Stories.  Crowell. 
Ross,  E.  A. — The  Changing  Chinese.  Century,  Indus- 
trial future,  women,  race,  characteristics,  appear- 
ance, education,  etc, 
Tappan,  E.  M..—The  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vol.  I, 
China.  History,  social  customs,  literature.  Ac- 
counts taken  from  various  authors. 

*Van  Bergen,  R. — Story  of  China.    American  Book  Co. 
Descriptive  and  partly  historical. 

India 

CoMPTON,  H. — Indian  Life  in  Town  and  Country.  Put- 
nam.   India  as  it  is.    Caste,  manners,  and  customs, 

the  Indian  at  home,  bungalow  life,  out-of-door  life, 

Illustrated. 
*PiNNEMORE,  J. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — India.     Mac- 

millan.    Village  life,  homes  in  the  city,  homes  of  the 

wild  folk.    Illustrated  in  color. 
*Griswold,  F. — Hindu  Fairy  Tales.    Lothrop. 
*KOLMAN,  J.  H. — Children  of  India.    Revell. 
*McDoNALD  AND  Dalrymple. — Chandra  in  India.  Little, 

Brown. 
McManus,  B. — Our*Little  Hindu  Cousin.    Page. 
*Marshall,  H.  E. — India's  Story  Told  to  Boys  and  Girls, 

Stokes. 
*Pratt- Chad  WICK,  M.  L. — Stories  of  India.    Educational 

Publishing  Co. 
Tappan,  E.  M. — The  World's  Story.    Houghton.     Vol. 

2  India.     History,  folk-lore,   social  life — accounts 

taken  from  various  authors. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Twin  Travelers  in  India.    Stokes. 

Japan 

Ancus,  D.  C. — Japan  the  Eastern  Wonderland.  Cas- 
sell.  Fairs  and  festivals,  ranks  and  religions,  court 
and  camp,  the  New  Japan,  etc. 


244  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

*Ayrton,  M. — Cliild  Life  in  Japan.     Heath.     Written 

from  actual  observation  of  Japanese  life. 
*Brain,  B.  M. — All  About  Japan.     Revell.     Stories  of 

the  Sunrise  Land  told  for  Little  Folks. 
Brown,  C.  C. — Children  of  Japan.    Kevell.    Describes 
Japanese  children  in  their  homes  and  at  school, 
their  games,  festivals,  and  superstitions. 
Fenollosa,  M.  M. — Blossoms  from  a  Japanese  Garden. 

Stokes. 
*FiNNEMORE,  J. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Japan.     Mac- 

millan. 
♦Campbell,    H.    M. — TJie   Story   of   Little   Metsu,   the 

Japanese  Boy.     Educational  Pub.  Co. 
*Gaines,  R. — Treasure  Flower — a  Child  of  Japan.    Dut- 

ton. 
*Griffis,  W.  E. — Japan,  In  History,  Folk-Lore,  and  Art. 
Houghton.     For  young  people.     Contents:  Origin 
of  the  arts,  letters,  writing,  social  life,  ideals,  and 
symbols,  signs  and  omens,  etc. 
Hearn,  Lafcadio. — Japanese  Fairy  Tales.     Boni  and 

Liveright. 
Kelman,  J.  H. — Children  of  Japan.    Revell. 
Knox,  G.  W. — Japanese  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

Putnam. 
Lloyd,  A. — Every -Day  in  Japan.    Cassell. 
*McDoNALD    AND    Dalrymple. — TJme    San    in    Japan. 
Little,  Brown. 
Murray,  D. — The  Story  of  Japan.    Putnam. 
*OzAKi,  Y.  T. — The  Japanese  Fairy  Book.    Dutton. 
*Shioya,  S. — When  I  ^yas  a  Boy  in  Japan.     Lothrop. 

Description  of  Japanese  child  life  by  a  Japanese. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vol.  I. 
Japan.     History,  literature — accounts  taken  from 
various  authors. 
*Van  Bergen,  R. — The  Story  of  Japan.  American  Book 

Co.  A  brief  and  interesting  history  of  Japan. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Japanese  Cousin.  Page. 
*Williston,  T.  p. — Japanese  Fairy  Tales.    Rand. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  245 

Java 

HiGGiNSON,  S.  J. — Java,  the  Pearl  of  the  East.  Hough- 
ton. 
*ScHELTEMA,  J.  F. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Java.    Mac- 
millan. 

Kashmir 
*Bruce,   F.   M.   J. — Peeps   at   Many  Lands — Kashmir. 
Macmillan. 

Korea 

*CouLSON,  J.  D. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Korea.    Mac- 
millan, 
Gale,  J.  S. — Korean  Sketches.    Revell.    The  Coolie,  the 

Korean  mind,  the  Korean  gentleman,  etc. 
*PiKE,  H.  L.  M. — Our  Little  Korean  Cousin.    Page. 

Mesopotamia 

Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.  Vol.  2, 
Mesopotamia. 

Palestine 

*FiNNEMORE,  J. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — The  Holy  Land. 
*GuERBER,  H. — story  of  the  Chosen  People.     American 
Book  Co. 
HosMER,  J.  K. — The  Story  of  the  Jews.     Putnam. 
*Kaleel,  M.  J. — When  I  Was  a  Boy  in  Palestine.    Loth- 
rop. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.    Houghton.    Vol. 
2.    Palestine. 

Persia 

Benjamin,  S.  G.  W.— Story  of  Persia.    Putnam. 
*Olcott,  F.  J. — Tales  of  the  Persian  Genii.    Houghton. 
*SnEDD,  E.  C. — Our  Little  Persian  Cousin.    Page. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.     Houghton.    Vol. 
2.     Persia.     History,  social  customs,  folk-lore,  ac- 
counts taken  from  various  authors. 


246  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

Siarn 

Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Storij.    Houghton.    Vol. 

2.    Siam. 
Taylor,  Bayard. — Siam.,  the  Land  of  the  White  Ele- 
phant.    Scribner.    Ancient  and  modern  Siam. 
*Wade,  M.  H. — Our  Little  Siamese  Cousin.    Page. 
•Young,  E. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Siam.    Macmillan. 

Siberia 

*Kennan,  G. — Tent  Life  in  Siberia.    Putnam.    The  nar- 
rative of  two  years'  life  in  Northern  Siberia. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.  Houghton,  Vol.  6. 
Russia. 

Africa 

Badlam,  a.  B. — Views  in  Africa.    Silver,  Burdette. 
*Carpenter,     F.      G. — Geographical     Reader — Africa. 

American  Book  Co. 
•Chamberlain,  J.  F. — The  Continents  and  Their  People 

— Africa.    Macmillan. 
Du  Chaillu,  Paul. — The  Country  of  the  Dwarfs.    Har- 
per.     Strange    experiences    among    the    African 
pigmies 
Du  Chaillu,  Paul. — In  African  Forest  and  Jungle. 
Scribner.      Adventures    with    wild     animals    and 
savage  tribes. 
Du   Chaillu,   Paul. — Wild  Life  under  the  Equator. 
Harper.    About  animals  and  wild  tribes  of  men  in 
Equatorial  Africa. 
•Herbertson,  a.  J. — Africa.    Macmillan. 
Honey,  J.  A. — South-African  Folk  Tales.    Baker. 
♦KiDD,  D. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — South  Africa.    Mac- 
millan. 
•Macnair,  J.  H. — Animal  Tales  from  Africa.     Stokes. 
*Muller,    M. — Story    of   Akimakoo,    an   African   Boy. 
Flanagan.     Entertaining  story  of  the  life  of  an 
African   lad.      Give    an    account   of   the    hunting 
of    crocodiles    and    elephants — life    in    camp,    en- 
counter with  cannibals. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  SOURCES  247 

Tappan,  E.  M.—TJie  World's  Story,    Houghton.  Vol.  3. 
Africa. 

Theal,  G.  W. — The  Story  of  SoutJi  Africa.    Putnam. 
*Wade,  M.  H.  B. — Our  Little  African  Cousin.    Page. 
*WiNSLOw,  I.  0. — Distant  Countries.    Heath. 

Egypt 

*Baikie,    J. — Peeps   at   Many   Lands — Ancient   Egypt. 

Macmillan. 
*Best,  S.  M. — Egypt  and  Her  Neighbors.    Macmillan. 
Erman,  a. — Life  in  Ancient  Egypt.    Macmillan. 
GossE,    A.    B. — The    Civilization    of   Ancient    Egypt, 
Jack.      Education,    professions    and    occupations, 
amusements,  architecture,  sculpture,  laws,  religion, 
literature.    Illustrated. 
*Kelly,  R.  T. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Egypt.     Mac- 
millan.   Account  of  the  country,  the  people  and  the 
life.    Illustrated. 
McManus,  B. — Our  Little  Egyptian  Cousvn.    Page. 
*McDoNALD  AND  Dalrymple. — Hossan  in  Egypt.  Little, 
Brown. 
Rawlinson  and  Gilman. — The  Story  of  Ancient  Egypt. 

Putnam. 
*Starr,  L.  B. — Mustafa^  the  Egyptian  Boy.  Flanagan. 
Account  of  every-day  life  around  Cairo  and  com- 
parison with  the  life  of  Ancient  Egypt. 
Tappan,  E.  M.—The  World's  Story.  Houghton.  Vol.  3. 
Egypt.  History,  folk-lore,  accounts  taken  from 
various  authors. 

Australia 

Buley,  E.  C. — Australian  Life  in  Town  and  Country, 

Putnam. 
*Carpenter,    F.    G. — Geographical    Reader — Australia, 

American  Book  Co. 
*Chamberlain,  J.  F. — The  Continents  and  Their  People 

— Oceania.    Macmillan. 
*Fox,  F. — Peeps  at  Many  Lands — Australia.    Macmillan. 


248  THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SCHOOL 

*Herbertson,  a.  J. — Australia  and  Oceania.    Macmillan. 

♦Kellogg,  E. — Australasia  and  the  Islands  of  the  Sea. 
Silver,  Burdette. 

*Knox,  T.  W. — Boy  Travelers  in  Australasia.    Harper. 

*NixON-RouLET,  M.  F. — Our  Little  Australian  Cousin. 
Page. 

*Chadwick-Pratt,  M. — Stories  of  Australasia.    Educa- 
tional Pub.  Co. 
Tregarthen,  G. — The  Story  of  Australasia.    Putnam. 


END 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL     FINE     OF     25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


S£^   .J 


toC, 


Ma,. 


I 


';/•', 


AUG    8     1938 


NOV  17  1838 
AUG    3     1939 


AUG  29    1944 
JUN   4  1946 

^JUN    6    1948 


APB  10 1942 


JV)\- 


24 


1941 


LD  21-50m-l,*3 


^-S8545 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


^'0 


